L  I  E>  RAFLY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF    ILLI  NOIS 

329 
B4-3p 


ILLINOIS  HISTORY  SURVEY 
LIBRARY 


Politics  and  Politicians 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS. 


fflBMOI^IAIi    UOLiUME, 


1787-1887. 


A  COMPLETE  RECORD  OF  MUNICIPAL,  COUNTY,  STATE  AND   NATIONAL  POLITICS 
FROM  THE  EARLIEST  PERIOD  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


COMPILED  BY 


FREMONT    O.    BENNETT. 


Designed  to  be  a  Book  of  Reference  and  Authority  for  every  important  incident  connected  -with  the  early 
settlement  of  Chicago  and  Northern   Illinois,   containing   data  of  City,  State  and  National  Con- 
Ventions,   Campaigns,  Elections  and  Administrations,  important  Public  Meetings,  complete 
Lists  of  Officials,  Biographical  Sketches  of  Noted  Men,    Valuable  Public  Records, 
Mayors'  Messages,  Resolutions  of  the  Common    Council.  Official  Election 
Returns,   Tables  of  Population  and  of  Voters  by   Wards  and  Na- 
tionalities,   Occupations,     Valuation,     Taxation,    Summary 


of  Council  Proceedings,  General  Index  of  same,  etc., 

etc.,    Adoption    of  City    Election   La-w, 

Summary  of  same,  Municipal 

Election    of  188b, 


AND   AN   ACCOUNT   OF   THE 


HAYMARKET  MASSACRE  OF  MAY  i  1886, 


AND   THE   ANARCHIST   TRIALS. 


0OM£MW  *N  ON*}  TCOlitfM*}. 


CHICAGO: 
THE    BLAKELY    PRINTING   COMPANY. 


fcV*^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18S6,  by 

F.  O.  BENNETT, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PREFACE, 

Beginning  with  the  arrival  of  the  first  actual  settler  of  Chi- 
cago in  1779,  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  give  in  the  following 
pages,  on  political  lines,  a  clear  idea  of  the  unprecedented   ad- 
vancement of  this  great  center  of  Western  civilization,  the  rapid 
increase    of   population,  and   the    speedy   building  up   of   busi- 
ness   and    society  on  a  well-laid   and    secure  foundation.     The 
book  will    be    found    a    non  partisan    medium  of   reference  for 
many  facts,  incidents  and  reminiscences  of   national,  state  and 
«      city  campaigns  and  conventions.      It  is  hoped  that  it  will  com- 
^    mend  itself  to  every  person  identified  with  politics,  or  interested 
Cf       in  the  political  history  of   our   country  and  of   municipal  gov- 
-J'      ernment.     Chicago  is  recognized  as  the  great  political  center; 
r        nearly  the  center  of  population — the  "Convention  City."     Illi- 
'"'       nois  has  furnished  two  of  the  greatest  Presidents  four  terms, 
7       and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  greatest  campaigns  have  cen- 
tered here,  radiating  from  Chicago.      Next  year  will  be  the  one 
hundredth  since  the  adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  whereby 
the  Northwest  Territory  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  out  of 
which  territory  the  State  of  Illinois  was  formed.     On  the  4th  of 
<a      March,  1887,  Chicago  will  have  been  incorporated  as  a  city  fifty 
^      years.      We  thus  have  both  a  centennial  and  semi-centennial  an- 
Sh     niversary    worthy  of    commemoration.      In  this  connection  the 
book  will  be  found  to  comprise  a  complete   municipal  history, 
aj     from  the  organization  of   Cook  county,  the  incorporation  of  the 
original    town  of  Chicago,  the  foundation  of    the  city  govern- 
^      ment  in  1837  UP  to  an<^  including  the  municipal  election  of  1886, 
^      with  sketches  of  the  various  Mayors  and  administrations  ;  inau- 
gural messages,  resolutions  and  ordinances  of  the  City  Council, 
official  election  returns,  redistriction  of  the  city  by  wards,  val- 
"3"^    uable  statistical  tables,  an  account  of  the  building  of  the  City 
!5T      Hall,    county    statistics,  etc.,  etc.     The  increase   of   population 
^     from  4,170   in   1837   to   75°>000   m   1886,  with   no  cessation   in 
01      growth,  is  evidence  that  Chicago  is  destined  to  be  one  of  the 

greatest,  if  not  the  chief  city  on  the  American  Continent. 
^  >  In  the  compilation  of  this  work  the  author  has  consulted  up- 

ward of  100  books,  files,  pamphlets,  and  records,  and  is  under  ob- 
ligations to  the  Hon.  George  H.  Fergus,  Hon.  John  Wentworth, 
^  Hon.  J.  Young  Scammon,  Hon.  George  W.  Julian,  Mr.  D.  W. 
Lusk,  of  Springfield,  A.  T.  Andreas  &  Co.,  Chicago,  and  many 
other  distinguished  writers  and  publishers,  for  valuable  matter 
'   •      embodied  herein. 

Chicago,  III.,  October  1,  1886, 


237771 


INDEX  TO  CONTENT: 


Chapter  I. — First  Settler  of  Chicago,  5.  Various  Appellations  of  Chicago.  .Garies'  River,  6. 
The  Main  River  Bed  Changed.  .Chicago  in  Virginia.  .Treaty  of  Greenville.  . Original  Site 
of  Chicago.  .Illinois  in  Indiana  Territory.  .Fort  Dearborn  Established.  .First  Commandants 
of  the  Fort.  .Massacre  of  1S12,  7.  Captain  John  and  Lieutenant  Wm.  Whistler.  .Memorial 
Meeting  of  Citizens,  9.  Address  of  Thomas  Hoyne,  10  .  .Illinois  Territory.  .Provisions  of 
the  Ordinance  of  1787.  .Congressman  Nathaniel  Pope. .  Illinois  admitted  to  the  Union.. 
Chicago  in  Various  Counties.  .Earliest  Political  Records.  .Earliest  Valuation,  11.  First 
Election  Ordered.  .First  Public  Officials.  .First  Marriage,  12.  First  Clergyman.  .Chicago 
Never  in  Vermillion  County.  .First  Voting  Precincts  Formed.  .First  Taxpayers,  13  .  .List 
of  First  Justices  of  the  Peace.. First  Poll-List,  14.  Personal  History  of  First  Voters.. 
Daniel  P.  Cook,  15,  16.  Grant  for  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.  .Vote  on  Constitution 
Legalizing  Slavery.  .First  Canal  Commissioners.  .First  School  Trustees .. Survey  of  the 
Town  of  Chicago.  .First  Tavern  License,  17.  First  Local  Improvements.  .State 
Election  of  1830.  .Where  Held.  .Death  of  John  Kinzie,  18.  Personal  History  of  Voters  of 
1830.  .Special  Elections,  19,  21.  Mark  Beaubien  and  His  Fiddle,  22,  23.  Arrival  of  Early 
Settlers.  .Gurdon  S.  Hubbard.  .First  Militia  Muster  Roll.  .First  Mounted  Troops,  24,  26. 
Cook  County  Organized.  .First  County  Election,  First  Officials,  First  Commissioners' 
Court,  Proceedings  of  Same,  Election  of  1838,  26,  28.  Original  Town  of  Chicago  Incor- 
porated. .First  Board  of  Trustees,  Proceedings,  29,  30,  31.  Important  Meetings  of  Citizens, 
31.  Gubernatorial  Election  of  1S34.  .First  Drawbridge  and  First  Vessel  Built  at  Chicago 
.  .Their  Builder.  .First  Shipment  of  Freight  Down  the  Lakes.  .First  Public  School  Teacher, 
32. 

Chapter  II. — Presidential  Campaign  of  1836.  .City  Charter  Discussion  TJie  Charter  Procured 
.  .Charter  Election  Called.  .Original  Wards  and  Boundaries.  .The  Election.  .Official  Returns 
by  Wards  and  Divisions,  33,  36.  John  H.  Kinzie.  Mayor,  William  B.  Ogden,  37,  43  .  . 
The  City  Seal,  43..  .Oldest  Buildings.  Land  Deals.  The  Early  Press,  44,  45.  Settlement 
of  Social  and  Political  Lines,  46  Election  of  1S38.  . First  Appearance  in  Chicago  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  His  Election  to  Congress.  .National  Campaign  of  1840'.  ."Hard 
Cider"  Recollections.  ."Old  Tippecanoe's"  popularity.  .Chicago  and  Cook  County  Remain 
Democratic.  .Chamblee  and  "Billy"  Caldwell  on-Gen.  Harrison,  47,  50.  Early  Abolition- 
ists, 50.  First  State  Convention  held  in  Chicago.  .State  and  Congressional  Election  of  1842. 
.  .National  Campaign  of  1S44.  .Result  in  Chicago  and  Cook  County,  51.  Municipal  Elec- 
tions.. Mayor  Buckner  S.  Morris,  52.  Mayor  Benjamin  W.  Raymond,  53.  Mayor  Alex- 
ander Lloyd.. Mayor  Francis  C.  Sherman  His  First  Inaugural  Message,  54.  Mayor 
Raymond's  Second  Election.  .Action  of  the  Democratic  Convention.  .Mayor  Raymond's 
Inaugural  Message,  55.  Mayor  Augustus  Garrett.. His  First  Inaugural  Message.. 
Retrenchment  Recommended.  .The  " Underground  Railroad"  Criticised,  56,  57.  Mayor 
Alson  S.  Sherman,  57.  Augustus  Garrett's  Second  Election  and  Inaugural.  .Many  Improve- 
ments Recommended,  5S.  Mayors  John  P.  Chapin  and  James  Curtiss.  .City  Wards 
Increased  to  Nine,  59. 

Chapter  III. — The  River  and  Harbor  Convention  of  1S47.  .Eminent  Men  Connected  There- 
with. .Horace  Greeley's  Account  of  the  Festivities.  .Table  of  Population  City  and  County 
1840101845.  Productions,  etc.,  60,  62.  Presidential  Campaign  of  1848.  .Split  in  the 
Democratic  Party.  .The  Chicago  Abolitionists  Zebina  Eastman,  Hooper  Warren,  Dr.  C. 
V.  Dyer  and  John  Jones.. Last  Slave  Disturbance.  .A  Great  Free  Soil  Meeting.  .Those 
Present  and  the  Action  Taken. .  Nominations  by  the  National  Parties.  .  The  Election,  62,  68. 
Vote  on  the  New  State  Constitution  an  1  For  and  Against  the  Negro  Clause  State  Vote. . 
Rival  City  Conventions.  .Vote  in  the  Municipal  Election  of  1848.  .Mayor  James  H.  Wood- 
-worth  .The  City  Marshal  Censured  by  the  Council.  .Ordinance  Against  Gambling.  Mayor 
Woodworth's  Inaugural.  .Number  of  Pupils  Attending  Public  Schools.  .The  Mortality.  . 
Number  of  Names  in  the  Directory.  .Operations  of  the  Canal.. Mayor  Woodworth 
re-Elected.  .His  Second  Inaugural,  68,  73.  Mayor  Curtiss  re-Elected  1850.  .Agitation  over 
the  "Black  Laws".  .Action  of  the  Common  Council  Condemning  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act. . 
Mass  Meetings  Held,  73,  75.     Mayor  Walter   S.    Gurnec.His  Inaugural.  .National  Cam- 

(v) 


VI  INDEX    TO    CONTENTS. 

paign  of  1S52  .A  Democratic  Victory  of  Brief  Duration.  .Organization  of  the  Republican 
Party.  .Notable  anti-Douglas  Meeting  al  the  Tremonl  House.  .The  Kansas-Nebraska 
Movement.  .The  Campaign  of  1856.  .The. Result  in  Detail .. Congressional  Elections  and 
<  !hanges  of  I  Ustricts,  75,  79. 

Chapter  [V.  — Lincoln  and  Shields  Rivals  for  the  United  States  Senatorship .. Election  of 
Lyman  Trumbull.. Trumbull  Twice  re-Elected.  .Lincoln  and  Douglas  Grow  Aggressive  . 
The  Famous  Joint  Debates .. Lincoln's  Nomination  and  Election  to  the  Presidency  Doug- 
las' Patriotism.  .Speeches  at  Springfield  and  Chicago.  .Life  and  Services  of  Douglas.. 
Was  Douglas  Mobbed  at  Market  Hall?  .  1 1  is  Enthusiastic  Reception  in  1861 .  .His  Death 
.  .The  Christian  Men  of  Chicago  Petition  Lincoln  to  Proclaim  Emancipation  of  the  Slaves 
..  His  Attitude  on  the  Question,  80  to  96.  .  Mayor  <  diaries  M.  Gray.  .Mayor  Isaac  L.  Milli- 
ken  Election  of  Mayor  1..  J).  Roone  by  the  "Know-nothings"  ..  I  lis  Administration  .  .The 
Lager  Beer  Riot.  .Sketch  of  Mayor  Boone,  97,  101. 

CHAPTER  V.  —  Municipal  Campaign  of  1S56. .  Mayor  Thomas  Dyer.  .Great  Free  State  Meeting 
in  the  Court  House  Square.  .Col.  J.  H.  Lane's  Famous  Speech,  102,  104.  John  Went- 
worth  the  Republican  Candidate  for  Mayor.  .Trouble  at  the  Rolls  Mayor  Wentworth's 
Inaugural  Message  ..  I  lis  Administration,  105,  109.  Sketch  of  John  Wentworth,  109,  in. 
Mayor  John  C.  Haines.  .Mayor  Wentworth's  Second  Election  and  Inaugural,  III,  117. 
Mayor  Julian  S.  Rumsey.  .  Incidents  of  1 1  is  Administration,  117,  119.  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  r  861.  .Campaign  of  1S62.. Speech  of  Isaac  N.  Arnold.  Sketch  of  Arnold.  . 
Speech  of  Owen  Lovejoy.  .Congressional  Election,  119,  122. 

CHAPTER  VI.- — New  City  Charter.  .Extension  of  Territory.  .Mayor  Francis  C.  Sherman's 
Second  and  Third  Terms.  .The  "Chicago  Conspiracy".  .The  "Sons  of  Liberty".  -  Wrent- 
worth  and  Vallandigham,  123,  126.  Campaign  of  1S64.  . Repeal  of  the  "Black  Code". . 
Illinois  in  the  War.  .Death  of  Lincoln.  .Mayor  John  B.  Rice.  .National  Campaign  of  186S. 
Lirst  Fall  City  Flection,  Mayor  Roswell  B.  Mason,  126,  131.  The  Great  Fire  Message  of 
Mayor  Mason.  .Efforts  to  Change  the  Location  of  the  City  Government.  .Sketch  of  Mayor 
Mason,  131,  134. 

CHAPTER  VI I.— Constitutional  Convention  of  1869.  .State  Campaign  1S70.  .A  Noted  Congres- 
sional Contest  in  Chicago.  .Action  of  the  Legislature  for  the  Relief  of  Chicago  The  "Fire 
Proof "  Ticket .. Official  Returns,  135,  13S.  Mayor  Medill's  Administration  The  Rolice 
Board  Contest  Saloon  Troubles,  13S,  143.  The  "Reople's  Party" ..  Preliminary  Meetings 
.The  Kingsbury  Hall  Mass  Meeting  The  Convention  and  Platform.  .  Position  of  the 
Democrats.  City  Treasurer  David  A.  Gage's  Defalcation.  .The  "Law  and  Order"  Party.  . 
The  Election .. Official  Returns,  143,  154.  Mayor  Colvin's  Administration.  His  Message 
and  Appointments.  .  Particulars  of  the  Gage  Deficit.  City  Finances ..  The  New  Charter.. 
Incorporation  under  the  General  Law.  .The  Vote  154,  161..  .The  Custom  House  Commis- 
sion. .Changes  in  Departments.  .The  Wards  Reduced.. The  Exposition  Building  Mass 
Meeting.  .  Election  of  Thomas  Hoyne.  .The  Reform  Council  and  the  Hoyne-Colvin  Contest 
■  .Long  and  Short  Terms  in  the  Council.  .Thomas  Hoyne's  Inaugural,  161,  167.  Change 
in  City  Departments.  .  The  Contest  over  the  Comptroller.  .Sketch  of  Harvey  D.  Colvin 
Sketch  of  Thomas  Hoyne  Death  of  Thomas  Floyne,  Resolutions  of  the  Common  Council, 
etc.,  167,  180. 

CHAPTER  VIIL  —  The  Great  Whiskey  Ring.  .The  Greeley  Movement ..  National  and  State 
1  Campaign  of  1872  -The  Patrons  of  Husbandry-  •  Election  of  Oglesby  to  the  U.  S.  Senate.  . 
State  and  Congressional  Election  of  1874.. The  Green  backers,  181,  186.  National  ami 
State  Campaign  of  1876.  .Election  of  David  Davis  to  the  U.  S.  Senate.  .Sketch  of  Judge 
Davis,  his  Death  and  Funeral.  .State  Campaign  of  1878.  .The  Socialists,  186,  190.  Mayor 
Heath's  Election  to  the  "Short  Term".. His  Inaugural  Contest  over  the  Removal  of 
Police  Superintendent,  M.  C.  Ilickey  •  First  Spring  Election ..  Mayor  Heath's  second 
term.. City  Finances  .Operations  of  the  City  Council  .The  Hildreth-Riordan  Contest. . 
Action  on  the  death  of  Daniel  O'Hara,  190,  199,  City  Certificate  Emergency.  .  Message  of 
Mayor  Heath.  .The  Tax  Fighters  The  Council  Indorses  Gen.  James  Shields.  .  Resolutions 
on  the  Death  of  John  T.  Corcoran  and  Mancel  Talcott.  .Comptroller  Farwell  on  the  Finan- 
ces.. Mayor  Heath's  Pinal  Message.  .  Sketch  of  Mayor  Heath,  199,    209. 

CHAPTER  EX.  —  Municipal  Campaign  of  1S79.  .Election  of  Carter  II.  Harrison.  .The  Socialist 
Ticket  Mayor  Harrison's  Inaugural ..  Appointments.  .  Sunday  Saloon  Closing  .Mayor 
Harrison  vs.  Fire  Marshal  lienner.  .  The  finances.  .  The  Knights  Templar  and  Grant 
Demonstrations  .Veto  of  the  Chicago  and  Western  Indiana  Franchise,  210,  218.  The 
Parnell  Reception.  .Action  on  the  death  of  S.  S.  Hayes.  .Veto  of  the  Annual  Appropriation 


INDEX    TO    CONTENTS.  Vll 

Bill.  .Aldermanic  Election  of  iSSc.The  Stauber-McGrath  Contest.  .Mayor  Harrison's 
Annual  Message,  219,  224.  Republican  National  Convention  of  1880  .Proceedings  of  the 
Convention.  .The  Illinois  Contest.  .Speeches  of  Raum,  Anthony  and  Storrs.  .Roscoe  Conk- 
ling's  Great  Speech  in  Nomination  of  Grant.  .Nomination  of  Garfield.  .Washburn  and 
Arthur  for  Vice-President  .Arthur  Nominated.  .National  and  State  Campaigns  of  tooj, 
224  to  254. 

Chapter  X. — Municipal  Election  of  1881.  .Harrison  and  Clark.  .Veto  of  the  Appropriation 
Bill.  .Appointments.  .Mayor  Harrison's  Second  Inaugural,  255,  265.  Assassination  of  Gar- 
field..  Mayor's  Address  and  Action  of  the  City  Council.  .Action  on  the  Death  of  Maj. 
Lannigan .. Mayor  Harrison  on  the  "Bridge  Nuisance".  .Visitors  from  New  Orleans.. 
Mayor's  Annual  Message.  .The  Grand  Jury_and  Gambling.  .Aldermanic  Election  of  1882  . 
Appointments.  .The  Mayor  Visits  Europe.  .Resolutions on  the  Death  of  Peter  Cunning- 
ham. .Mayor's  Annual  Message  for  1882,  265,285.  State  Campaign  of  1S82  .  Election  of 
Shelby  M.  Cullom  to  the  U.  S.  Senate.  .The  "Harper  Law".  .The  Female  Suffrage  Bill. . 
Municipal  Campaign  of  1883.  .Harrison  vs.  Cary.  .Appointments  and  Official  Bonds.. 
Act-ion  of  Council  on  Death  of  Ex-Aid.  William  Wheeler,  Aid.  J.  E.  Geohegan,  Aid.  J.  H. 
Foley  and  Ex-Aid.  C.  L.  Woodman. .  Aldermanic  Election  of  1884.  .Mayor  Harrison  on 
Kiosques.  .Annual  Message  for  1884.  .Assassination  of  Aid.  Michael  Gaynor.  .Action  of 
the  Council,  285  to  304. 

Chapter  XI. — National  Canvass  of  1884.  .Both  Great  Parties  Hold  their  Conventions  in  Chi- 
cago. .Proceedings  of  the  Republican  Convention.  .John  A.  Logan  placed  in  Nomination 
for  President.  .Speech  of  Shelby  M.  Cullom.  .Logan  Withdrawn,  and  Blaine  Seconded. . 
The  Vote  of  Illinois.  .Blaine  Nominated.  .  Democratic  State  Convention.  .Carter  H.  Har- 
rison Nominated  for  Governor  Illinois  Delegates  for  Grover  Cleveland.  .Historic  Letter  of 
Samuel  J.  Tilden.  .Cleveland's  Availability.  .Proceedings  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention.  .Cleveland  and  Hendricks  Nominated.  .Action  of  the  Independents  Adverse 
to  Blaine.  Address  of  the  Chicago  Organization  to  Voters.  .State  and  Congressional  Cam- 
paign. .The  Official  Vote,  305  to  324.  The  Eighteenth  Ward  Election  Fraud.  .Indictment 
and  trial  of  Mackin,  Gallagher,  Gleason,  etal.  .Great  Senatorial  Contest  of  1885.. The 
Legislature  a  Tie.  .Logan's  coup  de  etat.  .Municipal  Campaign  of  1SS5 .  .  Judge  Sidney 
Smith  and  Carter  H.  Harrison  Opponents  for  Election.  .A  Close  Vote.  .Theft  of  the  Third 
Ward  Ballot  Box.  .Action  of  the  Council  on  Election  Troubles.  .The  Sficth  Ward  Contest.  . 
The  Smith-Harrison  Mayoralty  Contest  The  Citizen's  Election  Law.. Its  Adoption  . 
The  Election  Commissioners  .  Mayor  Harrison's  Fourth  Inaugural.  .Memorial  on  the  Death 
of  Col.  Dominick  Welter.  .Veto  of  the  Equitable  Gas  Ordinance,  324  to  343. 

Chapter  XII. — Death  of  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant,  and  Demonstration.  . Mayor's  Address  and  Action 
of  the  Council.  .Addresses  of  Aldermen.  .Death  of  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks.  .Address 
of  the  Mayor  and  Resolutions  of  the  Council,  344,  352.  The  Council  favors  the  Adoption 
of  the  New  Election  Law .  Veto  of  the  Appropriation  Bill  of  1SS6. .  Sketch  of  Carter  H. 
Harrison.  .Aldermanic  and  Town  Election  of  1886,  first  under  New  Law.  .Organization  of 
Board  of  Election  Commissioners.  .Abstract  of  Election  Law,  352,  360. 

Chapter  XIII. — Report. of  Comptroller  Gurney  on  Taxation.  .The  Town  Governments.  .Tax 
Assessment  Troubles.  .Table  of  Tax  and  Debt  per  Capita,  Compared  with  other  Cities.. 
List  of  City  Comptrollers.  .Table  of  Valuation  and  Income,  City  of  Chicago,  1S37  to  1886. . 
List  of  Mayors  of  Chicago.  .Table  of  Vote,  School  Census,  Registration,  etc.,  Table  of 
Nativity  of  Voters.  .Table  Classifying  City  Occupations.  .School  Census  of  1SS6  in  Detail. . 
History  of  the  Building  of  the  City  Hall  and  County  Court  House,  361  to  378. 

Chapter  XIV. — Socialism  and  Anarchism.  .Growth  of  Socialism.  .The  Lehr  und  Wehr 
Verein.  .Capt.  Frank  Bielfeld's  Case.  .The  Militia  Law  Test  Case.  .The  Silver  Leaf  Grove 
Riot.  .The  Herman  Presser  Case.  .Federal  Supreme  Court  Decision.  .Action  of  the  An- 
archists in  Connection  with  the  Eight  hour  Labor  Movement.  .The  "Black  Road"  Riot  . 
The  Anarchist  Call  to  Arms  .The  Haymarket  Massacre.  .The  Deadly  Dynamite  Bomb 
Thrown.  .Suppression  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  and  Arrest  and  Indictment  of  Spies,  Parsons, 
Fielden,  Schwab,  Lingg,  Neebe,  Fischer,  etal.,  the  Anarchist  Conspiracy  Unearthed.  .  The 
Anarchist  Trials.  .Efforts  to  Obtain  a  Jury.  .Scenes  and  Incidents.  .Testimony  of  Gottfried 
Waller,  the  Informer  .Testimony  of  William  Seliger.  .  Lingg,  the  Bomb-maker.  .Sen- 
sational Evidence  of  Detective  Andrew  C.Johnson  .The  Evidence  in  Detail .  .  Witness 
Harry  L.  Gilmer.  .Discoveries  of  Capt.  Schaack.  .finding  Infernal  Machines.  .Experiments 
with  Bombs.  .Parsons'  Paper,  the  Alarm  .Spies'  Incendiary  Utterances.  .  Extracts  from 
the  Anarchist  Organs.  .The  Defense.  .The  Police  Arraigned.  .  Evidence  of  Dr.  James  D. 
Taylor,   of  August   Krumm..The  Russian  Correspondent,  Malkoff.  .The  Eight  Prisoners 


INDEX    TO    CONTENTS. 


Examined  in  Their  Own  Behalf.  A  Funny  Witness. .  Letters  from  Anarchist  Johann 
Most.  .Arguments  of  Counsel  for  the  State  and  for  the  Defense.  .Capt.  Black's  Plea  for 
the  Defense.  .State's  Attorney  Grinnell  for  the  Prosecution.  .Judge  Gary's  Instructions  to 
the  Jury.. The  Verdict.  .  Sketches  of  the  Condemned.  .Sketches  of  the  Jurors.  .  Official 
Police  Department  Report  of  Casualties  at  the  Haymarket  Story  of  the  Conspiracy. . 
Rudolph  Schnaubelt,  the  Bomb-thrower.  The  Grand  Jury  and  their  Report  Sensational 
Evidence  Heard.  .Cost  of  the  Anarchist  Trials  .Comments  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung.  .The 
Socialists  start  a  Political  Movement.  .Capt.  Black  Serves  Notice  for  a  New  Trial.  .The 
Arguments. .  Remarkable  Affidavits  of  Orrin  Blossom  and  A.  P.  Love.  .The  Motion  for  a 
New  Trial  Overruled  .The  Condemned  make  Appeals  in  their  own  Behalf.  .Speeches  of 
Spies,  Fischer,  Schwab,  Neebe,  Lingg,  Engel,  Fielden  and  Parsons.  .Sentence  Pronounced. . 
Address  of  the  Court.   Sketch  of  Judge  Cary,  379,   500. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


Walter  Q.  Gresham 501 

Anthony  C.  Hesing 501 

Shelby  M.  Cullom 506 

William  J.   McGarigle   ...509 
Lawrence  A.  Yore. ...... .514 

Henry  T.Murray 516 

Daniel  W.   Ryan 520 

Timothy  Ryan 523 

C.  Herman  Plautz 529 

George  Mills  Rogers 534 

Joseph  M.  Weber 53S 

Edward  P.  Burke 541 

Daniel  Shepard 544 

Richard   Prendergrast 54  7 

George  A.  Meech 551 

James  T.  Appleton   556 

David  S.  Mead 560 

William  Eisfeldt.    563 

Charles  Kern 567 

James  J.  McGrath 571 

Abner  Taylor 577 

Lawrence  E.  McGann 5S1 


Redmond  F.  Sheridan 502 

Richard  M.  Oliver 504 

William   Edgar 506 

John  M.  Dunphy 511 

Charles  F.   L.  Doerner 515 

Charles  S.   Petne   519 

H.  A.  Varnell 521 

Charles  E.  Scharlau 524 

John  J.  Curran 530 

Canute  R.  Matson    535 

A.M.Jones ^39 

Michael  B.   Bailey 542 

Thomas  J.  Carney 54  n 

Henry  Best  54S 

John  II.   Colvin 5^4 

Oscar  C.  DeWolf 557 

John  E.  Van  Pelt   561 

Henry  F.  Donovan 564 

Christian  Cassleman.  .      ..569 

Charles  B.  Farwell 573 

Miles  Kehoe.    578 

Theodore  T.  Gurney 582 


John  A.  Logan 503 

Murray  F.  Tuley 505 

Edward  F.  Cullerton 508 

James  II.  Ward 513 

Denis  J.  Swenie 517 

John  T.  Hoyne 520 

John  A.  Bell 522 

Michael  C.  McDonald 523 

Michael  J.  Corcoran 532 

Egbert  Jamieson 537 

Seth  F.  Hanchett 540 

Halvor  S.  Paulsen 543 

Charles  W.  Woodman 546 

P.  Bird  Price 550 

James  H.  Farrell 555 

Alexander   Kirkland 559 

James  M.  Doyle   562 

William  E.  Mason 565 

William  P.  Whelan 570 

George  R.  Davis 575 

George  H.  Mueller 5S0 


ADDENDA. 


Efforts  to  release  Joseph  C.  Mackin,  5S3;  Conventions,  fall  of  18S6,  labor  platforms,  5S4  to  588; 
List  of  Chicago  Congressmen;  list  of  Cook  County  Sheriffs;  Illinois  delegates  in  Congress; 
County  officials  and  salaries,  589,591;  History  of  Presidential  Elections,  591  to  594;  Ages  of 
Presidents;  date  of  inauguration;  Vice-Presidents,  date  of  qualification;  the  Presidential  vote 
for  any  year;  letters  of  acceptance,  59410601;  vote  in  Cook  county  in  1SS0;  Revised  Statutes 
bearing  on  elections  and  officials,  601  to  605;  Senators  and  Representatives  elected  since  1857, 
606  to  60S;  General  Assembly  1SS6-7,  60S;  Fall  Elections,  1SS6,  complete  returns;  Mayor's 
Message.  jSS6,  statistics  showing  the  importance  of  Chicago. 


Politics  and  Politicians  of  Chicago,  Cook  County,  and  Illinois. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Chicago's  first  settler — various  appellations  of  Chicago — 
ordinance  of  i  787 treaty  of  greenville fort  dear- 
born  the  massacre  of   1  8  i  2 memorial   meeting first 

political  records first  tax  levy public  improvements 

first    voters early    socie  ty  — daniel   p.   cook the 

canal mark  beaubien  and  his  fiddle first  military 

first   county   election original   town  of  chicago   in- 
corporated  action   of   the  trustees — public  meetings. 

The  first  actual  settler  on  the  site  of  Chicago,  of  whom  his- 
tory gives  any  account,  was  a  politician.  Among  our  earliest 
and  perhaps  our  first  pioneers,  was  a  clergyman,  Pere  James 
Marquette,  who  was  here  in  1673.  The  next  comer  was  a  trader, 
Robert  C.  LaSalle,  after  whom  the  street  at  the  head  of  which 
the  Board  of  Trade  building  stands  was  named,  who  arrived  in 
1680.  Jean  Baptiste  Point  au  Sable  arrived  in  the  summer  of 
1779.  He  was  an  enterprising  negro  from  San  Domingo,  and 
to  "Billy"  Caldwell  the  Sauganash,  a  local  celebrity  of  later  years, 
is  attributed  the  Indian-Hibernicism  that  "the  first  white  man  in 
Chicago  was  a  negro."  Au  Sable  drifted  up  the  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan  in  a  log  canoe,  or,  as  some  authorities  have  it,  astride 
of  a  hollow  log,  and  immediately  upon  his  arrival  went  into 
caucus  with  the  Indians.  His  political  ambition  was  of  great 
scope  and  a  high  order  of  merit,  for  it  was  his  creditable  desire 
to  first  ingratiate  himself  with  the  Indians  and  become  recog- 
nized as  a  chief,  and  then  plant  a  colony  of  San  Domingoans 
here  and  rule  as  Grand  Sachem.  The  untutored  savages  failed 
to  take  kindly  to  politics  ;  they  refused  to  recognize  Au  Sa- 
ble as  a  chief,  and,  with  his  ambition  crushed,  and  full  of  the  dis- 
appointment of  political  defeat,  he  removed  to  Fort  Clark,  now 
Peoria,  where  he  died  some  years  later.  There  were  other  pio- 
neers in  exploration,  adventures,  forays  against  the  Indians, 
soldiers  who  commanded  the  fort,  hardy  spirits  who  cleared  the 
forests  and  tilled  the  soil,  who  overcame  surpassing  difficulties 
and  thus  gained  the  respect  of  their  fellow  pioneers,  and  became 
recognized  leaders  of  public  sentiment,  the  first  examples  of  that 
thrift  and  enterprise  which  has  been  a  noted  characteristic  of  the 
people  of  Chicago  from  the  infancy  of  the  city  up  to  the  present 
day.     To  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  growth  and  requirements 

(5) 


6  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

of  our  population,  the  extension  of  our  limits  and  the  views  that 
crystalized  into  political  movements  by  means  of  which  improve- 
ments were  carried  forward,  and  the  vast  interests  involved  in  the 
good  government  of  the  city  were  conserved,  it  is  necessary  to 
make  brief  mention  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Fort  Dearborn 
reservation,  and  later,  the  city  site  were  secured,  and  of  the  men 
who  were  most  active  in  the  events  of  the  time. 

To  the  French  belongs  the  honor  of  settling  the  entire 
Northwest.  French  Catholic  Missionaries  began  locating  posts 
westward  from  Canada  and  toward  the  Mississippi  river  as  early 
as  1600.  In  1700  they  had  thirty-five  missionary  and  military  sta- 
tions extending  from  Frontenac,  now  Kingston,  Canada,  to  New 
Orleans,  Chicago  being  one  of  them.  The  name  of  this  city  has 
been  variously  spelled  Chicagou,  Chicagoux,  Shecawgo,  Chick- 
ago,  Chicajo,  Checagua,  Checkagua  and  Chicago,  its  present 
appellation.  The  original  name  was  evidently  Indian  and  differ- 
ent authorities  have  given  it  a  variety  of  meanings.  Thus,  one, 
and  perhaps  the  most  authentic,  says  it  was  originally  an  Indian 
village  named  after  a  celebrated  chief,  Chikagou,  who  is  said  in 
a  letter  to  his  superior,  by  Father  Louis  Vivier,  who  was  at  Kas- 
kaskia  in  1752,  to  have  paid  a  visit  to  Paris  and  to  have  received 
from  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  at  Versailles,  a  splendid  snuff  box, 
which  he  was  proud  to  exhibit,  on  his  return,  to  his  brother  red- 
skins. Possibly,  if  the  box  contained  snuff,  the  redskins  gave 
their  chief  his  sobriquet,  from  the  sound  of  his  sneeze  after  his 
return.  Another  theory  is  that  the  word  means  a  strong  odor 
like  that  of  the  polecat  or  wild  onion,  and  still  another  that  it  is 
a  place  where  the  latter  plant  grew  in  profusion.  Frauquelin's 
map  of  1684  contains  the  name  "Chicagou"  in  a  place  on  Lake 
Michigan  at  about  the  present  site  of  the  city.  In  a  letter  of 
M.  de  Ligney,  dated  at  Green  Bay  in  1  726,  the  name  is  spelled 
Chicagoux,  and  the  final  x  is  probably  of  French  origin.  The 
natives  asserted  in  later  years  that  the  once  celebrated  Indian 
chief  Chikagou  was  drowned  in  the  river  at  the  site  of  Fort  Dear- 
born near  the  mouth  of  the  stream.  The  North  branch  of  the 
Chicago  river  was  originally  called  Garie's  River,  after  a  French- 
man of  that  name  who  established  a  trading  post  some  distance 
north  of  Wolf  Point  or  the  Forks.  The  main  river  originally 
turned  southward  east  of  a  promontory  where  Rush  street  bridge 
now  stands  and  again  turning  eastward,  emptied  into  the  lake 
about  opposite  the  foot  of  Madison  street.  It  was  on  the  prom- 
ontory mentioned  that  the  stockade  of  Fort  Dearborn  was  erected 
in  1804.  Tradition  has  it  that  Au  Sable's  log  cabin  was  east  of  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS,  7 

fort  and  on  the  then  west  bank  of  the  river,  but  a  more  authentic 
statement  is  that  it  was  on  the  north  bank  of  the  main  stream, 
opposite  the  bend,  and  that  it  was  purchased  from  Au  Sable  by 
John  Kinzie,  who  subsequently  lived  in  it  with  his  family.  Mr. 
Kinzie  having  arrived  in  1804,  Au  Sable's  term  of  residence  was 
about  twenty-five  years,  or  he  may  have  again  visited  the  fort 
after  going  to  Fort  Clark. 

The  main  river  bed  was  extended  in  a  straight  line  eastward  to 
the  lake  in  1833  by  the  United  States  Civil  Engineers,  who  had 
charge  of  the  harbor  improvements. 

In  1778  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  claiming  this  territory 
as  a  part  of  that  State  by  virtue  of  the  conquest  of  Gen.  Rogers 
Clark,  who  wrested  it  from  the  British  and  Indians,  created  the 
County  of  Illinois,  embracing  all  of  the  present  state,  and  Chicago 
was  then  in  Virginia,  and  so  remained  until  the  adoption  of  the 
ordinance  of  1787,  which  ceded  the  Northwest  Territory  to  the 
United  States. 

By  the  treaty  between  General  Anthony  Wayne  and  the 
Indians  at  Greenville,  O.,  in  1795,  the  Pottawatomies,  Miamis 
and  allies  relinquished  the  right  to  "  one  piece  of  land,  six  miles 
square, at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicajo  river  emptying  into  the  south- 
west end  of  Lake  Michigan,  where  a  fort  formerly  stood."  The  fort 
alluded  to  was  a  frontier  defense  of  the  early  French  explorers,  and 
was  probably  first  built  about  1682,  when  La  Salle,  Hennepin 
and  their  followers  explored  the  Mississippi  river  to  its  mouth 
and  established  defensive  posts  at  convenient  distances  apart. 

In  1800  Illinois  was  organized  into  a  territory  with  Indiana, 
under  the  name  of  Indiana  Territory,  with  Gen.  William  Henry 
Harrison  as  Governor,  and  the  seat  of  government  was  at  Vin- 
cennes,  Ind.  In  1804  a  frontier  military  post  was  established  at 
Chicago  and  a  block  fort  was  erected,  named  after  Gen.  Henry 
Dearborn,  an  officer  in  the  Continental  army  during  the  Ameri- 
can, Revolution,  and  afterward  Secretary  of  War.  Capt.  John 
Whistler  was  placed  in  command  with  nine  other  officers  and 
fifty-four  privates.  Capt.  Nathan  Heald  succeeded  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  fort  in  18 10,  and  was  in  command  Aug.  15,  18 12, 
when  the  historic  massacre  took  place.  At  this  time  the  fort 
sheltered  fifty-four  regulars  and  twelve  militia,  with  a  number  of 
women  and  children,  according  to  a  report  made  by  Capt.  Heald, 
dated  Pittsburgh, Oct.  23,1812.  Seventy-six  regulars,  all  the  militia, 
two  women  and  twelve  children  were  killed  in  the  action,  in  which 
about  500  Indians,  mainly  Pottawatomies  and  Winnebagos  were 
engaged.     Lieut.  Linai  T.  Helm,  with  twenty-five  non-commis- 


8  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

sioned  officers  and  privates  and  eleven  women  and  children  were 
taken  prisoners,  many  of  whom  were  subsequently  butchered  by 
the  savages.  The  scene  of  the  massacre  was  not  far  from  the 
lake  shore,  to  the  south  of  the  fort.  A  large  cottonwood  tree, 
yet  standing  at  the  foot  of  Eighteenth  street,  is  said  to  mark  the 
site.  Capt.  Heald's  account  of  the  massacre  is  the  most  authen- 
tic ever  written,  although  others  have  given  more  details  of  the 
barbarities  practiced  by  the  Indians.  "Niles'  Weekly  Register"  of 
June  14,  1814,  states  that  a  Plattsburg,  N.Y.  paper  contains  nine 
names  of  members  of  the  First  Regiment  U.  S.  Infantry,  who  had 
recently  arrived  at  that  place  from  Quebec,  and  who  were  believed 
to  be  the  only  survivors  of  those  taken  prisoners, except  Lieut.  Linai 
T.  Helm,  who  was  ransomed.  The  names  were  as  follows  :  James 
Van  Horn,  Joseph  Knowles,  Paul  Gum  mow,  Elias  Mills,  Joseph 
Bowen,  Nathan  Edson,  Dyson  Dyer,  James  Corbin  and  Phelim 
Corbin.  John  Kinzie,  who  arrived  with  Capt.  Whistler  in  1804, 
and  assisted  in  the  construction  of  the  fort,  is  said  by  some  au- 
thorities to  have  been  engaged  in  the  action,  and  to  have  assisted 
Capt.  and  Mrs.  Heald  to  escape.  Another  account  has  it  that 
he  escaped  with  his  family  to  Detroit  prior  to  the  massacre.  At 
any  rate  he  was  imprisoned  at  Detroit  in  1812  by  the  British 
General,  Henry  A.  Proctor,  on  the  charge  of  being  a  spy,  but 
was  subsequently  released,  and  in  1816  he  returned  to  Chicago 
with  his  family  and  rebuilt  his  home  on  the  North  side. 

Another  account  has  it  that  Capt.  Heald  was  taken  to  St. 
Joseph  by  a  friendly  chief  named  Blackbird.  Capt.  Heald  did 
not  relate  in  his  account  of  the  massacre  how  he  escaped,  but 
simply  states  that  Mrs.  Heald  and  himself  were  taken  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  St.Joseph,  and  that  in  a  few  days  the  Indians  de- 
parted to  take  Fort  Wayne,  and  that  in  their  absence  he  engaged 
a  Frenchman  to  take  them  to  Michilimackinac,  where,  with  one 
of  his  sergeants,  they  surrendered  as  prisoners  of  war  to  Capt. 
Roberts,  the  British  officer  in  command. 

Fort  Dearborn,  like  most  of  the  early  outposts,  was  built 
mainly  with  the  view  of  accommodating  a  small  garrison  of  troops 
and  affording  shelter  to  the  surrounding  settlers  in  case  of  an 
Indian  outbreak.  It  had  bastions  at  the  alternate  southeast  and 
northwest  angles  ;  wide  gates  opening  to  the  south  and  the  north; 
small  sally-ports,  and  an  underground  passage-way  to  the  river, 
the  fort  proper  being  surrounded  by  high  palisades.  The  fort 
was  rebuilt  and  re-occupied  about  June,  1816,  when  Capt.  Heze- 
kiah  Bradley  assumed  command,  and  so  continued  until  183?, 
when  the  post  was  evacuated  and  left  in   charge  of  the   Indian 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  O, 

Agent,  Dr.  Wolcott,  whose  headquarters  were  the  Agency  House 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  Capts.  Whistler  and  Heald  were 
Kentuckians,  whose  political  sentiments  sprouted  from  the  soil  of 
the  Blue  Grass  State,  and  the  inmates  of  the  fort  followed  their 
leadership  in  all  affairs,  military  as  well  as  civil. 

Hon.  John  Wentworth,  who  arrived  in  Chicago  on  the  25th 
of  October,  1836,  met  Lieut.  William  Whistler,  who  was  ap- 
pointed a  second  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army  June  8,  1801, 
and  who  served  in  the  fort  under  command  of  his  father,  Capt. 
John  Whistler,  in  1804.  Thus  two  generations  span  the  entire 
history  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Wentworth  was  enabled  to  converse  re- 
garding Fort  Dearborn  and  its  occupants  with  one  who  was  there. 
June  17,  1832,  Major  William  Whistler  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  fort  and  remained  in  charge  during  the  Black-Hawk  war 
and  the  cholera  season.  His  father  was  originally  a  British  sol- 
dier and  was  made  prisoner  with  Gen.  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga  in 
1777,  where  Gen.  Henry  Dearborn,  after  whom  Fort  Dearborn 
was  named,  was  serving  as  major.  He  afterward  joined  the 
American  army  and  by  hard  fighting  won  his  rank  of  Captain  in 
the  First  Infantry  in  1802,  and  Brevet-Major  in  181 2.  He  died 
at  Bellefontaine,  Mo.,  in  1827.  Lieutenant  William  Whistler 
was  born  in  Hagerstown,  Md.,  in  1784.  His  heigjit  at  maturity 
was  6  feet  2  inches,  and  his  weight  260  pounds.  He  died  at  New- 
port, Ky.,  Dec.  4,  1863.  He  arrived  here  in  the  summer  of 
1803  with  his  young  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Julia  Ferson, 
born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1787.  Mrs.  Whistler  lived  to  be  ninety 
years  of  age,  dying  Feb.  it,,  1878,  at  Newport,  Ky.,  leaving  four 
daughters  and  one  son,  the  latter,  Gen.  J.  N.  G.  Whistler,  sta- 
tioned for  some  years  at  Fort  Keogh,  Montana.  Thirty-seven 
grandchildren  survived  her.  Mrs.  Gen.  Philip  H.  Sheridan  is 
her  grand  niece. 

Saturday  afternoon,  May  21,  1881,  the  site  of  Fort  Dear- 
born was  the  scene  of  a  memorable  gathering  of  citizens  and 
military,  assembled  to  commemorate  the  building  and  destruction 
of  the  two  forts  by  the  unveiling  of  a  tablet  placed  in  the  walls 
of  the  building  which  at  present  marks  the  site  of  the  fort.  The 
idea  was  devised  in  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  and  Mr. 
William  M.  Hoyt,  whose  firm  occupies  the  building,  voluntarily 
procured  the  tablet  and  inserted  it  in  the  north  wall  of  the  build- 
ing, facing  Rush  street  bridge,  where  it  will  remain  a  memorial 
to  endure  as  long  as  the  building  stands.  The  meeting  was 
called  to  order  by  the  Hon.  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  and  the  Rev.  Jere- 
miah Porter  offered  prayer.     Mr.  Robert  J.  Bennett,  in  behalf  of 


IO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Mr.  Hoyt,  formally  presented  the  tablet  to  the  Historical  Society. 
Mr,  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  unveiled  the  tablet;  the  military  pre- 
sented arms  ;  flags  were  waved,  the  bands  struck  up  national 
airs,  and  the  people  cheered.  The  Hon.  Thomas  Hoyne  re- 
sponded in  acceptance  of  the  tablet  on  behalf  of  the  Historical 
Society.  Addressing  Mr.  Bennett,  Mr.  Hoyne  said  :  "  I  have 
been  selected  by  the  Historical  Society  to  return  to  you  their 
profound  and  grateful  thanks  for  the  very  appropriate  and  beau- 
tiful memento  which,  at  your  own  cost,  you  have  placed  on  this 
historical  corner.  It  is  a  memento  which,  as  every  one  will  see 
at  a  glance,  recalls  centuries  of  time,  and  embodies  almost  the 
whole  history  of  events.  We  stand  upon  historical  ground. 
We  stand  upon  the  ground  where,  as  you  have  very  eloquently 
said,  was  planted  the  original  germ  of  the  population  who  to-day 
constitute  the  great  commercial  metropolis  of  not  only  the  West, 
where  the  Fort  was  established  in  advance  of  civilization,  but  the 
commercial  center  of  the  country.  We  stand  in  the  presence 
also,  of  things  which  bring  to  remembrance  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  events  of  national  history.  On  yonder  shore  of  this 
same  river  two  centuries  ago — in  the  winter  of  1674 — stood  the 
first  Christian  missionary  that  ever  visited  this  land, — the  pious 
and  humble  Marquette,  the  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi,  who 
was  the  first  white  man  that  ever  spent  a  winter  on  this  river,  or 
at  this  spot.  And,  sir,  we  stand  upon  the  ground  where,  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  a  whole  garrison  marched  out,  and 
upon  the  shore  of  this  lake,  below  here,  were  slaughtered  merci- 
lessly by  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  this  same  land. 

"  We  say  to  you,  Mr.  Bennett,  and  your  friend,  Mr.  Hoyt, 
and  others  whose  patriotism  and  enterprise  have  secured  this 
monument,  that  you  have  set  an  excellent  example;  for,  as  the 
events  are  fast  passing  from  the  memory  of  the  generation  now 
coming  up,  it  is  essential  that  such  monuments  as  this  be  erected 
by  men  like  yourself  to  perpetuate  what  is  associated  with  the 
foundation  of  this  great  commercial  metropolis,  wonderful  in  its 
rise,  wonderful  in  its  advance,  and  wonderful  in  its  consummation." 

Hon.  John  Wentworth,  in  behalf  of  the  Historical  Society, 
then  delivered  an  exhaustive  address  of  two  hours'  duration,  in 
which  he  not  only  reviewed  the  history  of  the  Fort  and  nearly 
every  person  connected  with  it,  but  referred  to  many  of  their 
descendants,  thus  combining  past  and  present.* 

*  These  proceedings  were  published  nearly  verbatim  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  Sun- 
day, May  22,  18S1,  and  were  subsequently  revised  and  issued  by  the  Fergus  Printing  Com- 
pany in  a  neat  pamphlet  containing  much  matter  of  historical  value. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  I 

The  territory  of  Illinois  was  set  off  from  Indiana  in  1809, 
and  Governor  Edwards  appointed  Nathaniel  Pope  Secretary  of 
the  Territory.  The  territory  then  comprised  but  two  counties, 
St.  Clair,  the  northern,  and  Randolph,  the  southern  portion. 

In  1 8 16  Nathaniel  Pope  was  elected  delegate  to  Congress 
and  served  in  that  capacity  until  after  the  admission  of  Illinois 
to  the  Union.  Nathaniel  Pope  was  another  Kentuckian.  He 
was  born  in  1784,  received  a  liberal  education,  and  followed  the 
law  as  a  profession.  The  ordinance  of  17S7  provided  that  the 
Northwest  Territory  should  be  divided  into  not  less  than  three 
or  more  than  five  states,  and  that  if  Congress  should  find  it  ex- 
pedient they  should  form  one  or  two  states  in  that  part  of  the 
territory  lying  north  of  an  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  the 
southerly  bend  of  Lake  Michigan.  On  this  provision  Wisconsin 
subsequently  based  a  claim  to  the  fourteen  northern  counties  of 
Illinois.  Our  earliest  representative  in  Congress,  with  wise 
foresight,  prevented  Cook  county  and  Chicago  from  being  lo- 
cated in  Wisconsin  by  moving  and  supporting  an  amendment 
to  the  bill  creating  the  state,  a  clause  establishing  the  boundary 
line  at  the  parallel  of  42  degrees  30  minutes,  north  latitude.  In  sup- 
port of  this  amendment  Mr.  Pope  urged  that  it  would  give  the  pro- 
posed state  a  lake  coast,  afford  additional  security  to  t^ie  perpetuity 
of  the  Union  by  connecting  all  of  the  Lake  States  by  the  great  nat- 
ural waterways,  and  the  desirability  of  a  canal  between  Lake 
Michigan  and  the  Illinois  river,  which  should  be  entirely  within 
one  State  jurisdiction,  was  enlarged  upon.  The  amendment  was 
adopted;  the  bill  became  a  law  April  13,  1818  ;  in  pursuance 
thereof  a  convention  was  called  at  Kaskaskia  to  form  a  constitu- 
tion, and  the  State  of  Illinois  was  duly  admitted  to  the  Union  by 
Congress,  Dec.   3,  1818. 

Chicago  was  successively  located  in  the  counties  of  St.  Clair, 
Madison,  Crawford,  Clark,  Pike,  Fulton,  Peoria  and  Cook.  The 
earliest  political  data  is  found  in  the  official  records  of  Fulton 
county.  Chicago's  valuation  in  1823  is  shown  by  the  following 
from  the  records  of  the  Fulton  County  Court  of  June  3,  1823: 

Ordered:  That  the  Assessor  levy  a  tax  on  all  personal 
property  (household  furniture  excepted)  and  on  all  town  lots,  of 
50  cents  upon  the  $100. 

June  7,  1825. 

Ordered:  That  there  be  paid  out  of  the  County  Treasury 
to  Abner  Eads,  the  sum  of  $11.42,  in  State  paper,  being  the 
amount  deducted  from  his  account,  for  tax  collected  at  Chicago. 
This    shows  that  the  valuation  at  Chicago  in   1823  was  $22.84. 


12  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  records  of  Fulton  county  show  that  June  17,  1823,  Am- 
herst C.  Ransom  was  commissioned  Justice  of  the  Peace  at  Chi- 
cago, and  on  July  5  John  Kinzie  was  commissioned  a  Justice. 
The  same  records  show  an  order  entered  for  an  election  to  be 
held  at  John  Kinzie's  house  for  one  major  and  company  officers 
in  the  Seventeenth  Regiment  Illinois  Militia;  John  Kinzie,  Al- 
exander Wolcott  and  John  Hamlin  to  conduct  the  election  on 
the  last  Saturday  in  September,  1823.  This  was  September  2,  and 
if  such  an  election  was  duly  held  it  was  the  first  that  ever  oc- 
curred at  Chicago. 

Amherst  C.  Ransom,  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  was  also  the 
first  tax  collector  at  Chicago,  and  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
defaulter.     The  Fulton  county  records  show  the  following  : 

July  5,  1823,  Ordered,  That  the  treasurer  pay  to  A.  C.  Ran- 
som the  sum  of  four  dollars,  for  taking  a  list  of  the  taxable  prop- 
erty at  Chicago,  in  said  county,  and  collecting  the  same,  so  soon 
as  he  (the  said  Ransom)  shall  pay  the  same  over  to  the  County 
Treasurer,  in  such  money  as  he  received. 

September  3,  1823,  Ordered,  That  Amherst  C.  Ransom 
hand  over  to  County  Treasurer  amount  of  tax  received  and 
collected  at  Chicago,  in  same  kind  of  money  he  received. 

In  all  justice  to  this,  our  first  collector  of  public  moneys,  it 
should  be  considered  that  he  may  have  collected  his  taxes  in  furs, 
local  money  or  produce,  and  refused  to  turn  them  over  until  he 
received  his  four  dollars  in  cash.  The  records  of  Fulton  county, 
of  April  27,  1824,  show  that  the  Commissioners'  Court  ordered 
that  Abner  Eads,  Sheriff,  be  released  from  paying  the  money 
tax  collected  at  Chicago  by  Ransom.  This  collector  could  not 
have  retained  much  money  however,  as  it  has  already  been  shown 
that  the  valuation  in  1823  was  but  nominal.  Ransom  came  here 
from  Ohio,  where  he  was  said  to  have  been  a  banker.  He  was 
taxed  as  of  Peoria  in  1825,  and  died  in  Arkansas  in  a  later  year. 
Of  this  matter  the  Hon.  John  Wentworth  said  very  bitterly  in 
a  lecture  in  1876,  "One  election  and  one  steal  are  all  that  the 
records  of  Fulton  county  show  for  Chicago."  Subsequently 
Mr.  Wentworth  gave  Mr.  Ransom  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  as 
already  explained. 

The  Fulton  county  records  show  also  that  Dr.  Alexander 
Wolcott  and  Ellen  M.  Kinzie,  John  Kinzie's  daughter,  were 
married  by  John  Hamlin,  J.  P.,  July  20,  1823.  Thus  these 
founders  of  the  first  Chicago  society  performed  services  for  each 
other  ;  the  one  by  giving  his  friend  his  daughter  in  marriage, 
and  one  Justice  of  the  Peace  uniting  his  brother  J.  P.    in  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  1 3 

bonds  of  wedlock.  It  is  claimed  that  this  was  the  first  marriage 
in  Chicago.  The  earliest  record  of  a  marriage  at  Chicago  by  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  is  found  in  the  Peoria  county  records, 
which  set  forth  that  the  Rev.  William  See,  a  Methodist  Evange- 
list, performed  this  interesting  ceremony.  The  first  resident 
clergyman  was  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter,  who  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  Fort  Dearborn  and  who  organized  the  First  Chicago 
Presbyterian  Church  Society.  Dr.  Wolcott  died  in  1830,  subse- 
quently to  July  24  of  that  year,  for  he  voted  on  that  date. 
He  was  a  genial  man,  who  was  well  liked  and  respected  by  the 
settlers,  and  while  acting  for  a  number  of  years  as  Indian  Agent 
he  made  reliable  friends  of  the  redskins. 

It  has  been  claimed  by  some  newspaper  and  pamphlet  wri- 
ters that  Chicago  was  assessed  in  Vermillion  county  in  1827, 
and  that  Sheriff  William  Reed,  of  that  county,  rather  than  make 
the  trip  from  Danville  to  Chicago,  paid  the  amount  of  the  assess- 
ment, $3,  out  of  his  own  pocket.  This  is  one  of  the  doubtful 
early  day  stories,  of  the  same  class  as  that  representing  that  an 
Arkansas  gentleman  journeying  through  Chicago  was  offered 
and  refused  the  Sherman  House  site  in  exchange  for  a  pair  of 
boots. 

The  act  forming  Peoria  county  was  approved  January  13, 
1825,  and  Chicago  was  assessed  that  year  in  Peoria  county.  No 
other  assessment  for  Chicago,  in  Peoria,  nor  in  Vermillion  county, 
can  be  found  ;  but  all  the  marriage  licenses  were  taken  out  at  Peo- 
ria, Judges  of  Election  appointed  there,  and  election  returns  made 
there,  until  the  organization  of  Cook  county;  and  the  records  of 
Vermillion  county  show  no  attempt  at  jurisdiction  over  Cook 
county.  The  west  and  the  north  boundaries  of  Vermillion 
county  were  the  Illinois  and  Kankakee  rivers. 

While  Chicago  was  a  part  of  Peoria  county,  it  was  divided 
into  four  precincts  or  voting  places.  The  first  included  all  terri- 
tory north  of  the  confluence  of  the  Du  Page  and  Des  Plaines 
rivers,  and  was  called  Chicago.  Directly  south  of  it  was  the 
second  precinct,  called  Fox  River  ;  south  of  which  was  the  third 
precinct,  caMed  Peoria  ;  embracing  all  the  neighboring  settlements 
except  Chicago  and  Fox  River.  There  was  also  a  fourth  pre- 
cinct, embracing  all  the  territory  west  of  the  other  three,  known 
as  Fever  River,  with  a  voting-place  at  or  near  what  is  now 
Galena.  There  were  fourteen  tax-payers  in  Chicago,  and  six  in 
Fox  River ;  which  included  the  present  sites  of  Morris,  Ottawa, 
La  Salle  and  Peru. 

The   fourteen  tax-payers  in  Chicago  in  1825  were  assessed 


14  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

$40.47  upon  personal  property  appraised  at  $4,047,  the  land 
then  not  being  taxable.  These  tax-payers  were  Antoine 
Ouilmette,  Joseph  Laframboise,  Claude  Laframboise,  Jeremiah 
Clairemont,  Alexander  Robinson,  John  K.  Clark,  David  McKee, 
John  Baptiste  Beaubien,  John  Kinzie,  Jonas  Clybourne,  Alex- 
ander Wolcott,  Archibald  Clybourne,  and  Joseph  Anderson. 
Successive  Justices  of  the  Peace  at  Chicago  were  commis- 
sioned under  Peoria  county  as  follows  : 

John  Kinzie,  July  28,  1825. 

Alexander  Wolcott  [Indian  Agent],  Sept.  10,  1825. 

John  B.  Beaubien  [General],  Sept.  10,  1825. 

Billy  Caldwell  [Sauganash],  April  18,  1826. 

James  Walker  [of  Plainfield],  April  18,    1826. 

Alexander  Wolcott  [Indian  Agent],  Dec.  26,  1827. 

John  B.  Beaubien  [General],  Dec.  26,  1827. 

John  S.  C.  Hogan   [Postmaster],  Oct.  9,  1830. 

Stephen  Forbes  [Sheriff],  Dec.  13,  1830. 
The  records  of  Peoria  county  give  the  first  known  official 
account  of  any  election  at  Chicago.  The  election  was  for 
Governor  and  Congressman,  and  was  held  August  7,  1826. 
The  record  shows  the  following  names  on  the  poll-list  from  the 
Chicago  precinct  in  the  order  given  : 

1.  Augustin  Banny,  19.  John  Baptiste  Lafortune, 

2.  Henry  Kelley,  20.  John  Baptiste  Malast, 

3.  Daniel  Bourassea,  21.  Joseph  Pothier, 

4.  Cole  Weeks,  22.  Alexander  Robinson,    " 

5.  Antoine  Ouilmette,         23.   John  K.  Clark, 

6.  John  Baptiste  Secor,       24.   David  McKee, 

7.  Joseph  Catie,  25.  Joseph  Anderson, 

8.  Benjamin  Russell,  26.  Joseph  Pepot, 

9.  Basile  Desplattes,  27.  John  Baptiste  Beaubien, 

10.  Francis  Laframboise, Sr., 28.  John  Kinzie, 

11.  Francis  Laframboise,  Jr., 29.  Archibald  Clybourne, 

12.  Joseph  Laframboise,        30.  Billy  Caldwell, 

13.  Alexander  Larant,  31.  Martin  Vansicle, 

14.  Francis  Laducier,  32.  Paul  Jamboe, 

15.  Peter  Chavellie,  2>3-  Jonas  Clybourne, 

16.  Claude  Laframboise,        34.  Edward  Ament, 

17.  Jeremiah  Clairemont,       35.  Samuel  Johnson. 

18.  Peter  Junio. 

The  names  attached  to  the  returns  of  this  election  as  judges 
were  those  of  John  Kinzie,  J.  B.  Beaubien  and  Billy  Caldwell ; 
Clerks,  Archibald  Clybourne  and  John  K.  Clark.     The  election 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  5 

was  held  at  the  Agency  House.  The  entire  thirty-five  votes  were 
cast  for  Vivian  Edwards  for  Governor,  Samuel  H.  Thompson  for 
Lieutenant-Governor,  and  Daniel  P.  Cook  for  Congressman.  Viv- 
ian Edwards  was  elected,  but  Thompson  and  Cook  were  defeated. 
All  of  these  voters  were  Whigs  and  voted  the  Administration 
ticket,  John  Ouincy  Adams  then  being  President. 

A  brief  personal  history  of  some  of  these  early  settlers,  who, 
aside  from  having  taken  interest  enough  in  politics  to  become 
our  first  voters,  became  noted  in  connection  with  the  material 
and  social  progress  of  Chicago,  is  essential  to  a  record  of  this 
description. 

Alexander  Robinson — "Indian  Robinson,"  or  Che-che-bing, 
meaning  "Winking  Eye."  His  father  was  a  French  Canadian 
and  his  mother  a  full  blooded  Pottawatomie  of  the  Tawas  tribe. 
He  said  himself  his  father  was  a  Scotch  captain  in  the  English 
army.  He  was  born  at  Mackinaw  in  1762,  became  chief  of  the 
Pottawatomies,  married  Manyon,  a  squaw,  had  five  children,  se- 
cured 1,280  acres  of  Government  land  for  his  services  as  an  in- 
terpreter and  signing  treaty.  Was  at  St.  Joseph  when  the  Fort 
Dearborn  massacre  took  place,  and  is  also  said  to  have  conducted 
Captain  Heald  and  wife  from  there  to  Mackinaw,  He  lived  to 
be  1 10  years  old  and  died  in  1872. 

Cole  Weeks,  American,  was  a  discharged  soldier,  had  no 
family,  worked  for  John  Kinzie.  He  married  the  divorced  wife 
•of  Archibald  Caldwell.  Caldwell  had  a  fondness  for  Indian  hunt- 
ing and  trading,  and  for  years  was  supposed  to  have  gone  off  and 
died  with  them.  Caldwell  was  living  not  long  since,  however, 
at  Keshena,  Shawano  Co.,  Wisconsin.  Caldwell's  wife,  who 
married  Cole  Weeks,  was  sister  to  Benjamin  Hall,  of  Wheaton, 
Du  Page  Co.,  111.,  and  Caldwell  was  cousin  to  Archibald  Cly- 
bourne,  and  came  from  the  same  place  in  Virginia. 

Antoine  Ouilmette  is  the  person  spoken  of  in  Mrs.  Kinzie's 
book,  "Waubun."  His  daughter  Elizabeth  married,  January  23, 
1827,  our  first  Irishman,  Michael  Welch. 

Claude  and  Joseph  Laframboise  were  brothers.  The  widow 
of  the  latter  was  living  with  her  son-in-law,  Medard  B.  Beaubien, 
at  Silver  Lake,  Shawnee  Co.,  Kansas,  a  few  years  since. 

"Billy  Caldwell,  the  Sauganash,"  was  the  son  of  an  Irish 
Colonel  in  the  British  army  stationed  at  Detroit,  whose  name 
he  bore.  His  mother,  by  some  authorities,  is  said  to  have  been 
the  renowned  Tecumseh's  own  sister.  He  became  chief  of  the 
Pottawatomies,  and  contended  himself  that  his  mother  was  a 
Pottawatomie,  saying  that  Tecumseh,  who  was  a  Shawnee,  had 


l6  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

but  one  sister,  Tecumapeance,  older  than  the  chief,  whose  hus- 
band, Wasegoboah,  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames. 
Other  facts  regarding-  Caldwell  appear  elsewhere  in   this  history. 

John  K.  Clark  was  half  brother  to  Archibald  Clybourne,  and 
married  Permelia,  daughter  of  Stephen  J.  Scott,  who  lived  later 
at  Deerfield,  Lake  Co.  Ill,  with  her  daughter. 

Jeremie  Clairemont  was  employed  by  the  American  Fur  Com- 
pany, in  182 1  for  the  trade  of  the  Iroquois  River. 

David  McKee  married,  January  23,  1827,  Wealthy,  daughter 
of  Stephen  J.  Scott,  born  at  Hog  Creek,  Rewton,  Loudoun  Co., 
Va.,  in  1800,  died  at  Aurora,  111.,  April  8,  1881. 

Joseph  Anderson  had  no  family. 

Gen.  John  B.  Beaubien  was  living  at  Mackinac,  when  the 
fort  there  was  surrendered  to  the  British  in  181 2.  He  married  a 
sister  of  Joseph  Laframboise,  the  Indian  Chief,  and  was  brought  to 
Chicago  in  1819  by  the  American  Fur  Company  to  oppose  Mr. 
Crafts,  agent  of  the  Northwest  Company.  He  had  several  chil- 
dren, notably  Mark  Beaubien,  of  fiddle  fame,  and  was  one  of 
the  principal  men  in  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  American 
Fur  Company. 

Jonas  Clybourne  came  from  Pearisburgh,  Giles  Co.,  Va., 
with  his  sons,  Archibald  and  Henley.  Archibald  came  in  1823 
and  went  back  to  Virginia  for  his  father's  family.  His  wife 
was  a  Miss  Galloway,  from  Marseilles,  LaSalle  Co.,  111.  Henley 
Clybourne  married  Sarah  Benedict,  and  had  two  sons,  recently 
living  at  Fort  Scott,  Kansas. 

A  majority  of  those  having  French  names  were  employes  of 
the  American  Fur  Company,  or  hunted  and  traded  for  them- 
selves. When  Chicago  was  abandoned  as  a  fur  trading  post, 
they  went  further  into  the  frontier  country,  like  Archibald  Cald- 
well. 

Daniel  P.  Cook,  for  whom  Cook  county  was  named,  was 
born  in  Scott  County,  Kentucky,  in  1794.  He  had  a  common 
school  education,  and  after  a  brief  mercantile  experience  he  en- 
tered the  law  office  of  the.  Hon.  John  Pope.  Mr.  Cook  moved 
to  Kaskaskia  and  purchased  the  "Intelligencer,"  a  newspaper 
which  became  at  once  a  political  power.  He  was  elected  Clerk 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  at  the  second  session  of  the 
second  Territorial  Legislature.  He  subsequently  became  a 
judge  and  married  a  daughter  of  Governor  Edwards.  He  was 
elected  Attorney  General  of  the  State  in  1818,  and  in  18 19  was 
elected  to  Congress,  defeating  John  McLean,  a  representative  of 
the  pro-slavery  party.     He  was  re-elected    to  the  Seventeenth 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  lj 

Congress  over  E.  K.  Kane,  another  leading  representative  of 
pro-slavery  ideas,  and  again  to  the  Eighteenth  Congress  over 
Mr.  McLean.  In  this  session  Mr.  Cook  made  strenuous  endeav- 
ors to  get  an  appropriation  to  aid  the  State  of  Illinois  to  con- 
struct the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.  From  1822  to  1827  he 
made  this  his  chief  work  and  after  many  disappointments  gained 
a  great  victory,  the  result  of  his  labors  being  the  passage  of  the 
act  of  March,  1827,  granting  in  fee  simple  to  the  state  the  alter- 
nate five  sections  of  land  upon  each  side  of  the  canal  survey, 
comprising  more  than  300,000  acres,  including  the  site  of  Chi- 
cago. The  canal  did  more  than  any  other  agency  to  develop 
the  resources  of   the  state  and  add  to  the  prosperity  of  Chicago. 

When  in  1823-4  the  pro-slavery  members  of  the  Legislature 
carried  a  proposition  to  call  a  convention  for  the  adoption  of  a 
new  constitution  legalizing  slavery,  Mr.  Cook  made  a  sturdy  fight 
against  the  measure  and  it  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  1,834 
out  of  11,764  votes  ;  the  vote  of  Fulton  county,  which  then  com- 
prised Cook,  was  but  five  votes  for  the  measure,  while  sixty  were 
polled  against  it.  In  1824  Mr.  Cook  defeated  ex-Governor  Bond 
for  Congress  by  over  3,000  majority,  and  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, which  then  elected  the  presidents,  he  cast  the  vote  of 
Illinois  for  John  Quincy  Adams.  In  1826  he  was  -defeated  for 
Congress  by  Gen.  Joseph  Duncan,  of  Jackson  county.  In  1827 
he  went  to  Cuba  to  recuperate  lost  health.  Early  in  June  he 
returned  and  for  a  season  was  a  guest  of  Governor  Edwards,  at 
Belleville,  and  on  October  16,  1827,  he  departed  this  life  at  his 
native  place  in  Scott  county,  Kentucky,  full  of  honors,  at  the 
youthful  age  of  thirty-three  years. 

The  legislature  of  1829  appointed  as  Canal  Commissioners 
Dr.  Jayne,  of  Springfield,  Edmund  Roberts,  of  Kaskaskia,  and 
Charles  Dunn,  to  locate  the  canal,  lay  out  towns,  sell  lots  and 
apply  the  proceeds  to  the  construction  of  the  canal. 

The  first  Trustees  of  the  School  Section  were  appointed 
December  8,  1829,  and  the  record  shows  that  Archibald  Cly- 
bourne,  Samuel  Miller  and  John  B.  Beaubien  were  appointed 
Trustees  of  Sec.  16,  Town  38,  N.,  Range  14,  E.  3d  P.  M. 

The  Canal  Commissioners  appointed  James  Thompson  to 
survey  and  plat  the  town  of  Chicago,  on  Sec.  9,  Township  39, 
Range  14.  This  survey  was  completed  and  the  plat  filed  August 
4,  1830,  and  those  named  thus  became  the  official  fathers  of 
Chicago. 

The  first  license  to  keep  a  tavern  at  Chicago  was  issued  to 
Archie  Caldwell,  an  American,   born    in   Virginia  in  1806,  who 


1 8  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

came  to  Chicago  in  July,  1828,  and  whose  divorced  wife,  as  has 
been  shown,  married  Cole  Weeks,  a  discharged  soldier  and  one 
of  the  voters  of  1826.     The  record  of  the  license  is  as  follows: 

County  Commissioners'  Court,  Peoria  Co.,  December  8, 
1829.  Present :  Francis  Thomas,  George  Sharp,  and  Isaac 
Egman. 

Ordered :  That  a  license  be  granted  to  Archibald  Caldwell, 
to  keep  a  tavern  at  Chicago,  and  that  he  pay  a  tax  of  eight  dol- 
lars, and  be  allowed  the  following  rates,  and  give  a  bond  with 
security  for  one  hundred  dollars: 

Each  half-pint  of  wine,  rum,  or  brandy 
"     pint  "       "  " 

"     half-pint  gin,        -         - 
"     pint  "... 

"     gill  of  whisky, 
"     half-pint  " 
"     pint  " 

"     breakfast,  dinner,  or  supper, 
"     night's  lodging, 

Keeping  horse  over  night  on  grain  and  hay, 

The  same  as  above,  24  hours, 

Horse  feed,         ...  - 

The  first  official  account  of  our  road  improvements  and 
election  expenses  is  contained  in  the  following  record  of  Chicago 
bills  audited  at  Peoria  : 

June,  1830. — Archibald  Caldwell,  $5.50  for  ironing  a  turn- 
pike scraper.  December  7,  1830. — -Henley  Clybourne,  $16,  for 
one  day's  services  as  Clerk  of  Election,  and  bringing  the  returns 
from  Chicago. 

The  State  election  of  1830  was  held  August  2,  at  the  house 
of  James  Kinzie,  Chicago  precinct,  Peoria  county.  This  house 
was  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  near  the  forks.  There  was 
nothing  on  the  South  side  at  that  time  except  the  fort,  the  light- 
house building  and  the  log  cabins  of  the  Beaubien  brothers,  one 
at  the  lake  shore  and  one  near  the  forks,  with  an  impassable 
marsh  between  them  ;  connections  being  made  by  means  of  boats 
on  the  river.  The  Judges  of  the  election  were  Russell  E.  Hea- 
cock,  the  first  lawyer  to  settle  in  Chicago  ;  Gen.  John  B.  Beau- 
bien, one  of  the  Judges  in  1826,  and  James  Kinzie.  The  Clerks 
were  Medard  B.  Beaubien  and  Jesse  Walker.  Only  six  of  the 
voters  of  1826  voted  at  the  general  election  of  1830,  and  these 
six  were  half-breed  employes  of  the  government.  John  Kinzie 
died  in  the  interval  between  the  elections,  at  the  age  of  65  years, 


25     cts. 

uV*  " 

183^    « 

3i#   " 

6%  « 

I2#    " 

1834    » 

25          " 

I2>^    " 

25          " 

37H    " 

I2W    " 

CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  19 

his  demise  occurring  January  6,  1828.  While  the  list  of  the  vot- 
ers at  the  general  election  shows  but  thirty-two  names,  a  decrease 
of  three  in  four  years,  there  were  fifty-six  voters  at  a  special 
election  for  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Constable,  held  July  24, 
1830.  At  another  special  election  for  Justice  of  the  Peace,  held 
November  25,  there  were  but  twenty-six  votes  polled.  The 
names  show  a  large  number  of  Anglo-Saxons  among  the  new 
comers  and  one  Irishman,  Michael  Welch,  believed  to  have  been 
the  first  Celt  here.  Welch  was  a  bugler  and  a  discharged  sol- 
dier. He  voted  the  straight  Jackson  ticket  and  soon  after  joined 
Capt.  Jesse  Brown's  Rangers  and  went  on  a  campaign  against 
the  Indians.  There  was  a  notable  change  in  the  political  senti- 
ment of  the  settlement.  The  Jackson  candidate  for  Governor, 
John  Reynolds,  received  twenty-two  out  of  the  thirty-two  votes 
cast.  Of  the  six  who  voted  at  both  elections,  and  voted  for  the 
Adams  candidate  for  Governor  in  1826,  five  voted  for  the  Jack- 
son candidate  in  1830,  consistently  voting  each  time  "with  the 
fort,"  or  with  the  administration.  It  has  been  claimed  that  this 
is  the  time  Chicago  became  Democratic,  having  given  a  unani- 
mous Whig  vote  in  1826,  and  now  polling  a  Democratic  vote  of 
two  to  one  in  favor  of  the  celebrated  John  Reynolds.  The  re- 
turns of  the  elections  of  1831  and  1832,  which  were  .entirely  non- 
partisan, fail  to  substantiate  this  claim,  however,  except  as  to 
the  election  of  Joseph  Duncan  to  Congress  over  Jonathan  H. 
Pugh,  Whig,  in  the  latter  year,  when  the  change  of  political  sen- 
timent that  made  Chicago  reliably  Democratic  for  a  period  of 
twenty-two  years  set  in.  Voting  was  by  viva  voce  ;  the  voter 
told  the  judges  whom  he  wanted  to  vote  for,  and  was  so  re- 
corded. It  is  needless  to  say  that  under  this  primitive  system 
there  was  no  "ballot-box  stuffing."  Billy  Caldwell,  the  "  Saug- 
anash,"  voted  the  Jackson  ticket,  and  Joseph  Laframboise, 
voted  against  it.  There  were  four  of  the  Laframboise  family 
voting  in  1826  and  only  one  in  1830. 

There  are  sixty-seven  names  upon  the  two  voting  lists  of 
1825  and  1830.  Six  voted  at  both  elections,  leaving  sixty-one 
different  names,  which,  with  the  four  on  the  tax-list  of  1825  who 
did  not  vote  at  either  election,  constitute  the  sixty-five  persons 
from  whom  all  our  first  families  claiming  early  connections  are 
descended,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  personal  history  of 
the  more  prominent  voters  is  given  in  brief. 

Stephen  J.  Scott  was  born  in  Connecticut  and  moved  to 
Chicago  from  Bennington,  Wyoming  Co.,  N.  Y.  He  lived 
many  years  at  Naperville  and  died  there.      His  son  Willard  lived 


20  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

at  Naperville  and  another  son,  Willis,  in  Chicago.  He  also  had 
several  daughters. 

Barney  H.  Laughton  lived  on  the  Aux  Plaine  river,  near  what 
is  now  Riverside.  His  wife  was  sister  to  the  wife  of  Stephen 
Forbes,  our  first  Sheriff. 

Jesse  Walker  was  a  Methodist  preacher,  who  finally  settled 
at  Walker's  Grove,  now  Plainfield,  111. 

James  Kinzie  was  a  son  of  John  Kinzie.  His  mother  and 
Archibald  Clybourne's  mother  were  sisters.  His  first  wife  was 
Rev.  William  See's  daughter.  His  sister,  Elizabeth  Kinzie, 
married  Samuel  Miller,  the  hotel  keeper.  He  died  at  Racine, 
where  his  second  wife  lived  since. 

Russell  E.  Heacock  has  sons  in  Chicago  and  vicinity.  He 
died  at  Summit,  Cook  Co.,  in  1849. 

John  L.  Davis  is  said  to  have  been  of  English  birth,  and  a 
tailor  by  trade. 

Stephen  Mack,  son  of  Major  Mack,  of  Detroit,  married  an 
Indian  woman.  He  was  a  clerk  in  the  employ  of  the  American 
Fur  Company,  and  finally  settled  in  Pecatonica,  Winnebago 
county,  111. 

Jonathan  A.  Bailey  was  the  father-in-law  of  the  Postmaster, 
John  S.  C.  Hogan.  Mr.  Hogan  held  the  office  until  1837,  when 
Sidney  Abell  was  appointed.  He  died  in  1866  at  Memphis, 
Term.  His  wife,  Anna  Maria,  died  November  15,  1838,  aged 
23  years. 

Jonathan  A.  Bailey  was  the  predecessor  of  Mr.  Hogan  as 
Postmaster. 

Alexander  McDale  owned  eighty  acres  of  land  at  the  Sum- 
mit, in  the  early  times  known  as  Peter  Kerns' lot,  of  JohnWent- 
worth's  farm.  The  canal  and  railroad  run  through  it  and  it  fronts 
the  Archer  Road. 

In  1830-5  the  State  of  Illinois  was  divided  into  military  dis- 
tricts and  the  people  elected  the  officers  and  it  was  through  an 
election  of  this  kind  that  John  B.  Beaubien  gained  the  title  of 
General.  When  the  Cook  county  militia  of  1834  was  organized 
John  B.  Beaubien  was  chosen  as  Colonel,  at  an  election  held  at 
the  tavern  kept  by  Stephen  J.  Scott,  afterward  owned  by  Barney 
H.  Laughton,  near  Lyons,  now  Riverside,  on  the  Desplaines  river. 
Gen.  Beaubien  lived  upon  the  Fort  Dearborn  reservation  for 
several  years,  and  on  May  28,  1835,  he  purchased  through  the 
land  office  the  entire  reservation  for  the  sum  of  $94.61.  This 
added  to  his  importance  in  the  community,  and  by  common  con- 
sent fixed  his  title  of  General  as   securely  as   if   he   had    been  a 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  21 

graduate  of  West  Point,  and  won  his  rank  in  the  field.  His 
title  to  the  reservation  was  subsequently  disputed  in  the  courts 
and  several  years  of  litigation  followed,  resulting  adversely  to 
the  claims  of  his  heirs. 

The  following  are  the  returns  of  a  special  election  for  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  and  constable  held  at  the  house  of  James  Kin- 
zie  in  the  Chicago  precinct  of  Peoria  county,  State  of  Illinois,  on 
Saturday,  July  24,  1830  : 

James  Kinzie,  Jean  Baptiste  Beaubien,  Alexander  Wolcott, 
Augustin  Banny,  Medard  B.  Beaubien,  Billy  Caldwell,  Joseph 
Laframboise,  John  Mann,  John  Wellmaker,  Stephen  J.  Scott, 
Thomas  Ayers,  Russell  Rose,  Louis  Gauday,  Michael  Welch, 
William  P.  Jewett,  John  VanHorn,  Gabriel  Acay,  Joseph  Papan, 
Willard  Scott,  Peter  Wycoff,  Stephen  Mack,  James  Galloway, 
David  Van  Eaton,  James  Brown,  Samuel  Littleton,  Jean  Bap- 
tiste Laducierjoseph  Thibeaut,  Lewis  Blow,  Jean  Baptiste  Secor, 
Mark  Beaubien,  Peresh  Leclerc,  Matthias  Smith,  James  Garow, 
Alexander  Robinson,  Samuel  Miller,  Jonas  Clybourne,  John 
Joyal,  Peter  Frique,  Jean  Baptiste  Toubien,  John  L.  Davis,  Si- 
mon Debigie,  A.  Foster,  George  P.  Wentworth,  Alex.  McDale, 
Jonathan  A.  Bailey,  David  McKee,  Joseph  Pothier,  Henry  Kelly, 
Antoine  Ouilmette,  David  Hunter,  James  Engle,  John  K.  Clark, 
Russell  E.  Heacock,  Leon  Bourassea,  Archibald  Clybourne,  Ho- 
ratio G.  Smith. 

Total  :  John  S.  C.  Hogan,  for  Justice  of  the  Peace,  33 
votes;  Archibald  Clybourne,  22  votes;  Russell  Rose,  1  vote. 
Total,  56. 

For  Constable,  Horatio  G.  Smith,  32  votes;  Russell  Rose, 
21  votes  ;  John  S.  C.  Hogan,  1  vote.     Total,  54. 

Twenty-four  more  votes  were  cast  at  this  election  than  at  the 
State  election,  held  a  week  later,  and  it  is  probable  that  excite- 
ment ran  high,  as  the  rival  candidates  for  Justice  of  the  Peace 
were  popular  men,  who  would  naturally  inspire  their  friends  to 
special  effort  in  their  behalf. 

Another  special  election  for  Justice  of  the  Peace  was  held 
at  the  house  of  James  Kinzie,  Chicago  precinct,  Peoria  county, 
on  Thursday,  November  25,  1830,  the  following  named  persons 
voting: 

Archibald  Clybourne,  James  Kinzie,  John  Wellmaker,  John 
Mann,  Russell  E.  Heacock,  Peter  Wycoff,  Billy  Caldwell,  Jesse 
Walker,  Enoch  Thompson,  Medard  B.  Beaubien,  David  Van 
Eaton,  John  B.  Beaubien,  Stephen  J.  Scott,  Matthias  Smith, 
David  McKee,  William  Jewett,  Horace  Miner,   Samuel   Miller, 


22  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

Stephen  Forbes,  William  See,  Peter  Muller,  Jonas  Clybourne, 
John  B.  Bradain,  John  Shedaker,  Peter  Frique,  John    K.  Clark. 

Total,  Stephen  Forbes,  iS  ;  William  See,  8. 

Mr.  Forbes  was  the  second  sheriff  of  Cook  county,  and  mar- 
ried a  sister  of  the  wife  of  Barney  H.  Laughton.  William  See 
is  mentioned  in  Mrs.  Kinzie's  "Waubun,"  and  was  a  Methodist 
preacher. 

The  judges  of  this  election  were  James  Kinzie,  John  B. 
Beaubien,  and  Archibald  Clybourne.  The  clerks  were  Russell 
E.  Heacock  and  Stephen  J.  Scott. 

All  of  the  voters  of  1830  are  now  dead,  but  three  were 
known  to  be  living  in  1876.  They  were  Medard  B.  Beaubien, 
son  of  Gen.  John  B.  Beaubien,  in  later  years  interpreter  and 
leading  man  among  the  Pottawatomie  Indians  in  Kansas  ;  David 
McKee,  whose  history  is  given  with  that  of  the  voters  of  1826, 
and  Mark  Beaubien,  Brother  of  Gen.  John  B.  Beaubien,  who 
reached  Chicago  from  Detroit  in  1826,  on  a  visit  to  his  brother. 
Subsequently  he  brought  his  family  here  and  built  a  log  house 
fronting  the  river  on  what  was  known  later  as  the  "Old  Wigwam 
Lot,"  on  the  corner  of  Lake  and  Market  streets.  The  house 
was  built  for  hotel  purposes  and  was  the  only  dwelling  house  on 
the  South  side,  except  John  B.  Beaubien's.  When  the  Indian 
chief,  Sauganash,  or  "Billy"  Caldwell  on  the  poll-list,  learned 
that  the  house  was  to  be  a  tavern,  he  observed  to  Mr.  Beaubien 
that  Americans  named  their  hotels  after  big  men,  and  asked  him 
what  he  was  going  to  call  his  house.  The  builder  was  quick  to 
take  the  hint  and  said,  "I'll  call  it  Sauganash,"  and  the  Sauga- 
nash it  became.  Mr.  Beaubien  was  a  famous  fiddler,  and  Mark 
Beaubien's  fiddle  is  now  a  treasured  historical  relic  of  early 
Chicago. 

"He  was  an  original  fiddler,"  says  Mr.  Wentworth  in  his 
"Early  Chicago,"  "having  inherited  the  art  in  a  natural  way;  and 
he  will  probably  die  one.  In  case  of  the  absence  of  the  music  at 
any  one  of  our  parties  in  olden  times,  Mr.  Beaubien  was 
always  sent  for,  and  when  one  fiddle-string  broke,  he  was  good 
for  the  three ;  and  when  another  broke  he  could  still  keep  up  the 
music,  and  if  there  was  only  one  string  left  a  party  would  never 
go  away  disappointed  if  Mr.  Beaubien  was  left  to  play  upon  it." 

The  first  steamboat  built  in  Chicago  was  named  after  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant  James  Allen,  a  popular  young  officer  stationed 
at  the  fort,  uncle  of  B.  F.  Allen,  of  DesMoines,  la.  It  ran  from 
Chicago  to  St.  Joseph,  and  the  young  people  used  to  have  moon- 
light dances  on  the  deck.     A  favorite  refrain  of  theirs  was: 


CHICAGO,   COOK   COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  2  T, 

Come,  Uncle  Mark,  tune  your  old  violin, 
And  give  us  a  dance  on  the  Jim  Al-lin. 

After  a  few  years  Mr.  Beaubien  built  a  large  frame  addition 
to  his  hotel  and  this  was  the  first  frame  house  built  on  the  South 
side.  In  1836  the  house  was  kept  by  John  Murphy,  and  it  was 
here  the  tired  pilgrim,  "Long  John"  Wentworth  took  his  first 
meal  upon  his  arrival  in  that  year,  and  it  is  with  Landlord 
Murphy's  widow  that  Mr.  Wentworth  to  this  date  faithfully 
keeps  an  appointment  to  dine  at  least  once  a  year. 

Mark  Beaubien  established  the  first  ferry  at  the  forks 
of  the  river  a  short  distance  north  of  the  present  Lake  street 
bridge.  He  was  made  quite  famous  by  the  newspapers  in 
1880,  as  our  oldest  living  citizen,  in  connection  with  the  annual 
reception  of  old  settlers  by  the  Calumet  Club.  Mr.  Beaubien 
was  present  at  the  first  reception,  and  was  made  the  lion  of  the 
occasion.  He  exhibited  with  great  pride  and  played  with  spirit 
the  identical  fiddle  which  he  had  bowed  so  miraculously  at  social 
gatherings  nearly  fifty  years  before.  In  a  speech  Gen.  Henry 
Strong  characterized  him  as  the  Apollo  of  the  early  settlers,  and 
ex-Chief  Justice  John  Dean  Caton  told  in  a  facetious  manner 
the  story  of  how  old  Mark  won  a  horse-race  from  Robert  A.  Kin- 
zie,  and  of  how,  to  use  his  (Mark's)  own  expression,  he  kept 
tavern  "like  hell."  The  Hon.  John  Wentworth  called  to  mem- 
ory several  of  the  festive  occasions  upon  which  the  veteran  settler 
had  employed  his  musical  power  to  good  effect ;  and  Gov.  Bross 
reminded  his  hearers  of  the  way  in  which  the  ancient  tavern- 
keeper  divided  his  time  between  "  keeping  tavern  vigorously," 
working  the  ferry  at  Wolf  Point,  and  running  pony-races  with 
his  Indian  neighbors. 

Mr.  Beaubien  departed  this  life  April  n,  1881,  at  the  house 
of  George  Matthews,  his  son-in-law,  at  Kankakee,  111.  He  gave 
his  celebrated  fiddle  to  the  Hon.  John  Wentworth,  who,  on  the 
19th  of  May,  1 88 1,  presented  it  to  the  Calumet  Club,  where  it  is 
regarded  as  a  treasured  heirloom.  Mr.  Beaubien  claimed  to 
have  been  born  in  1800,  but  he  was  believed  by  many  persons  to 
be  much  older  than  this  would  make  him.  He  was  present  when 
Detroit  was  surrendered  in  181 2  by  Gen.  Hull,  and  was  fond  of 
singing  songs  in  derision  of  Hull  and  his  infamous  surrender. 
Mark  Beaubien  undoubtedly  supplied  many  of  our  later  voters, 
for  he  had  twenty-three  children,  and  the  influence  of  the  family 
strain  must  have  affected  our  society,  for  his  grandchildren  num- 
bered fifty-three,  when  the  great-grandchildren  began  to  demand 
recognition. 


24  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

While  the  earlier  settlers  and  especially  the  attaches  of  the 
fort  numbered  many  Kentuckians,  they  were  speedily  followed 
by  the  Virginians. 

There  were  Jonas  CI)  bourne  and  his  two  sons — Archibald 
and  Henley  ;  John  K.  Clark  ;  David  McKee  ;  Rev.  Jesse  Walker  ; 
Benjamin  Hall  ;  David  Hall ;  Samuel  Miller  ;  John  Miller;  Jacob 
Miller  and  Archibald  Caldwell,  all  from  Virginia. 

The  earliest  New  Englander  here,  who  has  descendants  now 
living,  was  Stephen  J.  Scott,  a  voter  of  1830,  who  arrived  at 
Chicago,  August  26,  1826,  in  the  schooner  Sheldon,  Capt.  Sher- 
wood. His  wife  was  Hadassah  Trask,  and  they  came  from  Con- 
necticut. He  died  on  board,  ship,  on  his  way  from  California, 
in  1852.  At  the  time  of  the  election  of  John  B.  Beaubien  to 
the  office  of  Colonel,  at  the  tavern  of  Barney  H.  Laughton, 
at  what  is  now  Riverside,  it  was  kept  by  Stephen  J.  Scott. 

The  next  New  Englander  who  voted  here,  prior  to  the  or- 
ganization of  Cook  county,  who  left  descendants,  was  Russell  E. 
Heacock,  the  first  Chicago  lawyer,  born  at  Litchfield,  Conn.,  in 
1 78 1.  He  reached  here  from  Buffalo,  New  York,  in  a  sail  ves- 
sel, July  4,  1827,  and  left  numerous  descendants. 

Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  came  to  Chicago  when  there  were  but 
two  families  outside  of  the  fort,  those  of  John  Kinzie  and  Antoine 
Ouilmette.  He  related  many  interesting  reminiscences  of  early 
Chicago.  Mr.  Hubbard  was  born  August  22,  1802,  and  came 
West  in  the  employ  of  the  American  Fur  Company  in  1818,  and 
on  November  1  came  to  the  site  of  Chicago,  and  is  the  only  man 
now  living  who  was  here  at  that  time.  After  being  engaged  in  the 
fur  business  he  settled  here  in  1834,  and  has  since  that  date  been 
intimately  identified  with  the  city  of  which  he  is  now  the  oldest  and 
most  honored  inhabitant.  On  August  11,  1834,  he  was  elected 
a  Town  Trustee  ;  was  an  early  packer  during  the  same  year  ;  was 
an  incorporator  of  the  early  Chicago  Hydraulic  Company ;  was 
one  of  the  early  members  of  Engine  Company  No.  3  ;  was  a 
director  of  Chicago's  first  bank;  in  September,  1836,  was  the 
first  insurance  agent  in  the  city  ;  was  one  of  the  prominent  pro- 
moters of  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad,  and  was,  in 
1834,  one  of  the  organizers  of  St.  James'  Episcopal  Church. 
From  May  23  to  June  23,  1832,  he  was  Second  Lieutenant  in 
Captain  Bailey's  company  of  militia,  and  in  1861  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  War  Finance  Committee. 

The  following  is  the  muster-roll  of  the  first  Chicago  militia 
company  : 

May  2,  1832. — We,  the  undersigned,   agree  to  submit  our- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  25 

selves,  for  the  time  being,  to  Gholson  Kerchival,  Captain,  and 
George  W.  Dole  and  John  S.  C.  Hogan,  First  and  Second  Lieu- 
tenants, as  commanders  of  the  militia  of  the  town  of  Chicago, 
until  all  apprehension  of  danger  from  the  Indians  may  have 
subsided  : 

Richard  J.  Hamilton,  Jedediah  Wooley, 

Jesse  B.  Brown,  George  H.  Walker, 

Isaac  Harmon,  A.  W.  Taylor, 

Samuel  Miller,  James  Kinzie, 

John  F.  Herndon,  David  Pemerton, 

Benjamin  Harris,  James  Ginsday, 

S.  T.  Gage,  Samuel  Debaif, 

Rufus  Brown,  John   Wellmaker, 

Jeremiah  Smith,  William  H.  Adams, 

Heman  S.  Bond,  James  T.  Osborne, 

William  Smith,  E.  D.  Harmon, 

Isaac  D.  Harmon,  Charles  Moselle, 

Joseph  Laframboise,  Francis  Labaque, 

Henry  Boucha,  Michael  Ouilmette, 

Claude  Laframboise,  Christopher  Shedaker, 

J.  W.  Zarley,  David  McKee, 

David  Wade,  Ezra  Bond, 

William  Bond,  Robert  Thompson. 

Samuel  Ellis, 
The  muster-roll  of  our  first  mounted  troops  is  as  follows : 
Muster-roll  of  a  Company  of  Mounted  Volunteers,  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States,  in  defense  of  the  Northern  frontier 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  against  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians,  from 
the  county  of  Cook,  in  said  state,  in  the  year  1832,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Joseph  Naper : 

Joseph  Naper,  Captain,  afterward  member  of  legislature,  for 
whom  Naperville  was  named. 

Alanson  Sweet,  First-Lieutenant,  afterward  of  Evanston,  111. 
Sherman  King,  Second-Lieutenant,  lived  at   Brush  Hill,  111. 
S.    M.    Salisbury,   First-Sergeant,  afterward    Cook    County 
Commissioner,  from  Wheeling,  111. 
John  Manning,  Second-Sergeant. 

Walter  Stowell,    Third-Sergeant,   afterward  Postmaster,   at 
Newark,  111. 

John   Naper,    Fourth-Sergeant,  lived  at  Naperville,  brother 
to  Joseph. 

T.  E.  Parsons,  First-Corporal. 
Lyman  Butterfield,  Second-Corporal. 


26  TOLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

I.  P.  Blodgett,  Third-Corporal,  father  of  Judge  H.  W. 
Blodgett. 

Robert  Nelson  Murray  (Naperville),  Fourth-Corporal,  later 
County  Judge. 

Privates: 
P.  F.  W.  Peck,  Uriah  Paine, 

William  Barber,  John  Stevens, 

Richard  M.  Sweet,  Seth  Westcott, 

John  Stevens,  Jr.  Henry  T.  Wilson, 

Calvin  M.  Stowell,  Christopher  Paine, 

John  Fox,  Basley  Hobson, 

Denis  Clark,  Josiah  H.  Giddings, 

Caleb  Foster,  Anson  Ament, 

Augustine  Stowell,  Calvin  Ament, 

George  Fox,  Edmund  Harrison, 

T.  Parsons,  Willard  Scott, 

Daniel  Langdon,  Perez  Hawley, 

William  Gault,  Peter  Wycoff. 

These  two  companies  undoubtedly  represent  all  the  able-bod- 
ied men  capable  of  bearing  arms  in  Cook  county  at  the  date  of 
their  enrolment.  Captain  Gholson  Kerchival  was  subsequently 
postmaster  and  represented  the  city  in  the  legislature  in  1838. 
He  died  in  California,  leaving  a  son,  Walter  Kerchival,  a  printer, 
who  was  a  candidate  on  the  Republican  ticket  for  member  of  the 
General  Assembly  from  the  Second  District  in  i88i,andwho 
died  of  pneumonia  in  1882.  The  two  lieutenants  were  also  post- 
masters of  this  city  in  later  years.  After  this  organization,  Gov- 
ernor John  Reynolds  sent  Major  Daniel  Bailey  to  Chicago  and 
he  raised  a  battalion  of  four  companies  from  the  citizens  of 
Northern  Illinois.  The  pay-roll  of  these  four  companies  of  vol- 
unteers is  preserved  in  the  proper  department  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  where  it  was  sent  for  the  purpose  of  securing  land-war- 
rants. The  paper  was  probably  drawn  up  by  Colonel  Richard  J. 
Hamilton,  stepfather  of  Judge  Murray  F.  Tuley,  who  occupied 
the  Superior  Court  bench  in  later  years. 

The  act  creating  Cook  county  was  passed  and  approved  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  Illinois  January  15,  1831,  and  by  the  same 
act  the  town  of  Chicago  was  made  the  county  seat.  Section  8 
directs  that  an  election  be  held  at  Chicago,  in  Cook  county,  on 
the  first  Monday  in  March  for  one  Sheriff,  one  Coroner  and 
three  County  Commissioners.  In  March,  1831,  Cook  county 
was  duly  organized,  and  it  embraced,  besides  the  present  limits, 
what    is  now  the    counties    of    Lake,    McHenry,    DuPage    and 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  2  J 

Will.  The  only  voting  place  in  the  county  at  the  first  election 
was  Chicago. 

James  Kinzie  was  elected  Sheriff,  and  Elijah  Wentworth, 
Jr.,  Coroner. 

The  County  Commissioners  elected  were  Samuel  Miller, 
Gholson  Kerchival,  and  James  Walker,  who  held  the  first  Com- 
missioner's Court  in  Chicago,  March  8,  and  took  the  oath  of  of- 
fice before  Justice  of  the  Peace  John  S.  C.  Hogan.  William 
See  was  appointed  clerk,  and  Archibald  Clybourne  treasurer. 
Galena  and  Chicago  were  then  in  the  same  Senatorial  and  Rep- 
resentative Districts.  Col.  James  M.  Strode  was  elected  to  the 
Senate  and  Benjamin  Mills  to  the  House,  both  being  lawyers  at 
Galena. 

Elijah  Wentworth,  Jr.,  our  first  coroner,  was  born  in  Maine, 
and  removed  with  his  father,  Elijah  Wentworth,  Sr.,  to  Kentucky, 
thence  to  Dodgeville,Wis.,  and  in  1830  came  to  Chicago.  They 
rented  a  new  hotel,  then  just  completed  by  James  H.  Kinzie, 
which  was  located  on  the  West  side  near  the  forks  of  the  river, 
and  was  considered  the  best  in  Chicago.  It  was  built  of  logs, 
with  upright  boards  nailed  upon  the  outside.  Mr.  Wentworth 
carried  the  mail  from  Chicago  to  Niles,  Mich.,  once  a  month. 
While  Mr.  Wentworth  lived  at  Dodgeville,  a  man  who  subse- 
quently achieved  prominence  in  the  history  of  the  country,  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  had  charge  of  the  construction  of  Fort  Winnebago, 
about  seventy-five  miles  distant.  Lieut.  Davis  had  been  ordered 
to  the  frontier,  in  1828,  soon  after  his  graduation  at  West  Point, 
and  he  often  visted  Dodgeville  to  attend  social  events,  and  was 
well  remembered  by  Mr.  Wentworth's  people.  Mr.  Wentworth, 
after  having  acceptably  filled  the  office  of  coroner,  the  mortality 
of  Chicago  then  being  low  and  his  duties  consequently  light, 
remained  a  prominent  citizen  for  many  years.  He  died  at 
Galesburg,  111.,  November  18,  1875. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court 
three  voting  precincts  were  established,  and  their  boundaries  de- 
fined. They  were  designated  as  the  Chicago  precinct,  Hickory 
Creek  precinct  and  Du  Page  precinct.  Grand  and  petit  jurors 
were  selected  at  this  first  session. 

April  13,  1 83 1,  a  special  term  of  the  Commissioners'  Court 
was  held  in  Chicago  and  it  was  ordered  that  a  tax  of  y2  per  cent. 
be  levied  on  town  lots  ;  pleasure  carriages  ;  distilleries,  all  horses, 
mules  and  neat  cattle  above  the  age  of  three  years  ;  on  watches, 
with  their  appurtenances,  and  all  clocks.  The  first  two  tavern 
licenses  granted  by  Cook  county  were  to  Elijah  Wentworth  for 


28  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

$7,  and  to  Samuel  Miller  for  $5,  and  a  schedule  of  rates  was 
fixed  for  tavern  keepers.  Russell  E.  Heacock  was  licensed  to 
"  keep  a  tavern  at  his  residence."  Robert  A.  Kinzie,  Samuel 
Miller  and  B.  Laughton  were  licensed  to  sell  merchandise,  and 
James  Kinzie  was  licensed  as  an  auctioneer.  A  ferry  was  duly 
established  at  "the  Forks,"  rates  were  fixed,  and  a  scow  was 
ordered  bought  of  Samuel  Miller  for  $65.  The  ferryman  was 
required  to  give  a  bond  of  $200  and  pay  $50  into  the  county 
treasury.  June  6,  1831,  Mark  Beaubien  was  appointed  ferry- 
man and  James  Kinzie  became  surety  on  his  bond. 

The  second  regular  session  of  the  court  took  place  June 
6.  Several  merchants  were  licensed  to  sell  goods  and  the  first 
steps  were  taken  toward  building  county  roads.  Three  roads 
were  laid  out,  the  first  from  the  town  of  Chicago  to  the  house 
of  James  Walker,  on  the  Du  Page  river,  and  so  on  to  the  west 
line  of  the  county  ;  the  second  "  from  the  town  of  Chicago  the 
nearest  and  best  way  to  the  house  of  widow  Brown,  on  Hickory 
Creek,"  and  the  third,  or  Du  Page  road,  essentially  Madison  street, 
to  Ogden  avenue,  thence  southwest  to  Riverside.  The  "Widow 
Brown  Road"  was  State  street  to  Archer  avenue,  and  thence 
south  and  west.  The  first  public  land  sale  took  place  when  the 
Canal  Commissioners  had  deeded  to  Cook  county  a  tract  of  ten 
acres,  including,  what  is  now  the  Court  House  square.  A  part 
of  this  was  sold  by  the  commissioners  in  July,  1831.  James  Kin- 
zie acted  as  auctioneer,  and  the  sales  amounted  to  $1,153.75. 

The  Congressional  Legislative  and  county  election  of 
August,  1 832,  which  was  the  first  general  election  after  the  organ- 
ization of  Cook  county,  did  not  develop  any  strictly  party  lines. 
It  is  probable  that  but  few  votes  were  polled  in  the  Chicago  pre- 
cinct, for  the  reason  that  the  cholera  panic  had  almost  completely 
depopulated  the  city  during  July.  The  four  precincts,  Chicago, 
Hickory,  Creek  and  DuPage.  returned  114  votes,  as  follows: 

For  Congress. 
Joseph  Duncan,  Democrat  (of  Jacksonville),   94 

Jonathan  H.  Pugh,  Whig,         -         -         -  19 

Archibald  Clybourne,  1 

For  State  Senator. 

James  M.  Strode,  Galena,         -         -         -  81 

James  W.  Stevenson,  "         -         -         -  -     26 

J.  M.  Gay, 4 

For  State  Representative. 

Benjamin  Mills,  Galena,          -         -         -  no 


chicago,  cook  county,  and  illinois.  29 

For  Sheriff. 
Stephen  Forbes,  Chicago,         -         -         -        106 
James  Kinzie,  "  2 

For  Coroner. 
Elijah  Wentworth,  Jr.,  -         -         -  104 

Up  to  August,  1833,  the  people  of  Chicago  were  subject  to 
the  County  Commissioners,  and  had  no  town  government.  A 
few  leading  spirits  who  desired  the  town  to  be  incorporated 
moved  in  the  matter  and  the  result  was  the  holding,  August  5, 
of  a  memorable  caucus  at  Mark  Beaubien's  house,  where,  after 
discussion  of  the  momentous  question  a  vote  was  taken,  result- 
ing, twelve  votes  in  favor  of  incorporation,  and  one  against. 
Edmund  S.  Kimberly,  who  acted  as  secretary  of  the  meeting, 
was  instructed  to  issue  a  notice  for  the  election  of  trustees. 
That  the  notice  was  duly  issued  and  the  election  held,  the  fol- 
lowing official  records  show  : 

Election  Notice. 
Public  notice  is  hereby  given  that  an  election  will  be  holden 
at  the    house  of  Mark   Beaubien,  on  Saturday,  the  10th  of  Au- 
gust, at  1 1  o'clock  in  the  forenoon   of  that  day,  for  the  purpose 
of  choosing  ten  Trustees  of  the  town  of  Chicago. 

(Signed),  E,  S.  Kimberly,  Town  Clerk. 
Chicago,  Aug.  5,  1833. 
N.  B.     The  polls  will  be  closed  at  one  o'clock. 

Proceedings  of    the  First  Meeting  of  the  First  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Town  of  Chicago. 

Chicago,  Illinois,  Aug.  12,  1833. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  the  Town  of 
Chicago,  holden  at  the  Clerk's  office  of  said  county  on  Monday,  the 
1 2th  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  One  Thousand 
Eight  Hundred  and  Thirty-Three.  Present,  Th.  J.  V.  Owen, 
Medard  B.  Beaubien,  Edmund  S.  Kimberly,  George  W.  Dole, 
and  John  Miller. 

The  oath  of  office  required  to  be  taken  by  the  said  Trustees 
before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  their  office  by  the  Statute  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  entitled  an  "Act 
to  incorporate  the  inhabitants  of  such  towns  as  may  wish  to  be 
incorporated,"  approved  February  the  12th,  1831,  was  admin- 
istered by  Richard  J.  Hamilton,  Notary  Public  of  said    county, 


30  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

whereupon  the  said  Trustees  organized  themselves  into  a  Board 
and  appointed  R.  I.  Hamilton  Clerk  pro  tern.,  and  elected 
Thomas  J.  V.  Owen  as  their  President  and  Isaac  Harmon  Clerk, 
of  said  Board  for  and  during  the  term  of  one  year,  and  until 
their  successors  shall  be  qualified  to  act. 

Ordered,  That  the  meetings  of  this  Board  be  held  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Mark  Beaubien  in  the  Town  of  Chicago,  on  the 
first  Wednesday  in  every  month,  at  the  hour  of  seven  o'clock 
P.  M.  of  said  days,  commencing  with  the  first  Wednesday  in  the 
month  of  September  next. 

Ordered,  That  the  Board  adjourn  until  the  first  Wednesday 
in  the  month  of  September  next,  at  7  o'clock  P.  M. 

Th.  J.  V.  Owen,  Pres. 
Att.  R.  I.  Hamilton,  Clk.  Pro  Tern. 

Fixing  the  Order  of  Business. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Town  of 
Chicago,  held  at  the  house  of  Mark  Beaubien,  on  the  3d  day 
of  September,  1833,  pursuant  to  adjournment,  Thos.  J.  V.  Owen 
was  present  as  President,  and  Isaac  Harmon  as  Clerk.  Also  mem- 
bers present :  John  Miller,  Edmund  S.  Kimberly,  Medard  Beau- 
bien, and  Geo.  W.  Dole. 

On  motion  of  E.  S.  Kimberly,  Ordered,  That  the  order  of 
business  for  the  Trustees  of  the  Town  of  Chicago  shall  be  as 
follows,  to  wit : 

1  st.  Minutes  of  the  proceedings  of  the  last  meeting  to  be 
read  by  the  Clerk. 

2d.      Reports  of  committees. 

3d.      Petitions  from  citizens  and  others. 

4th.     Unfinished  business  from  last  meeting. 

5th.     Miscellaneous  business. 

On  motion  of  Doctor  E.  S.  Kimberly,  the  following  resolu- 
tions were  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  every  resolution  offered  to  this  Board,  be 
committed  to  writing  and  be  handed  to  the  Clerk. 

Resolved,  That  every  petition  that  is  offered  be  committed 
to  writing. 

Resolved,  That  every  petitioner  that  offers  a  written  petition 
be  allowed  to  explain  himself  to  the  Board,  either  by  himself  or 
attorney. 

On  motion,  Ordered,  That  especial  meeting  be  held  on 
Saturday,  the  7th  instant,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  ex- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  3  I 

tent  of  the  powers  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Town  of  Chicago  res- 
pecting- their  jurisdiction  over  the  surplus  ground  on  North  and 
South  Water  streets. 

Ordered,  That  the  Trustees  of  the  Town  of  Chicago  establish 
a  free  ferry  across  the  river  from  Dearborn  street,  on  South 
Water  street,  to  Dearborn  street,  on  North  Water  street,  and 
that  a  committee  of  three  members  of  the  Board  be  appointed 
to  make  necessary  arrangements  for  that  purpose. 

E.  S.  Kimberly,  Medard  B.  Beaubien,  and  G.  W.  Dole 
were  appointed  said  committee. 

Ordered,  That  G.  W.  Dole  be  appointed  Treasurer  for  this 
Board  for  one  year,  or  until  a  successor  shall  be  appointed  and 
qualified  to  act. 

The  Board  adjourned  to  the  next  regular  meeting  of  said 
Board  at  this  place  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  October  next. 

A  meeting  of  citizens  of  Cook  county  was  held  at  the 
Eagle  Hotel,  February  6,  1834,  R.  I.  Hamilton  in  the  chair  and 
John  S.  C.  Hogan  acting  as  Secretary,  to  appoint  delegates  to 
represent  the  district  of  Chicago  in  a  convention  to  be  held  at 
Ottawa  on  the  first  Monday  in  March,  to  nominate  a  Senator 
and  Representatives  to  represent  the  district  composed  of  the 
counties  of  La  Salle,  Cook,  Jo  Daviess,  Rock  Island^  Putnam  and 
Peoria  in  the  next  ensuing  General  Assembly.  John  Dean 
Caton  was  appointed  Delegate  and  P.  F.  W.  Peck,  J.  H.Collins, 
Dr.  E.  S.  Kimberly,  Dr.  W.  Clark  and  A.  W.  Fullerton  were 
chosen  as  a  Corresponding  Committee. 

At  an  adjourned  meeting,  February  15,  1834,  the  delegate 
was  instructed  to  vote  for  no  individual  not  in  favor  of  immediate 
construction  of  communication,  either  by  canal  or  railroad, 
between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Illinois  river. 

It  will  be  seen  that  at  this  date  a  new  district  had  been 
formed,  and  that  the  Legislative  district  no  longer  extended 
westward  to  the  Mississippi  river. 

On  this  same  date  (February  15,  1834),  another  meeting  was 
held  at  the  Eagle  Hotel,  at  which  Dr.  John  T.  Temple  was  ap- 
pointed a  delegate  to  a  convention  to  be  held  at  Rushville,  Schuy- 
ler county,  for  determining  the  most  suitable  place  to  be  voted  for 
at  the  meeting  of  the  next  General  Assembly,  as  a  permanent  loca- 
tion of  the  seat  of  government.  Dr.  Temple  was  instructed  to  op- 
pose to  the  utmost  of  his  ability  any  measure  tending  to  connect  the 
location  of  the  seat  of  government  with  the  question  of  the  con- 
struction of  a  canal  or  railroad  between  the  Illinois  river  and 
Lake  Michigan.     T.  J.  V.   Owen  was  chairman  of   this  meeting 


32  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

and  P.  F.  W.  Peck,  secretary.  A  committee  was  appointed, 
composed  of  J.  D.  Caton,  R.  I.  Hamilton,  T.  H.  Collins,  E.  S. 
Casey,  Giles  Spring  and  R.  A.  Kinzie,  to  draft  a  petition  to 
Congress  asking  that  the  pre-emptive  right  be  given  actual  settlers 
of  quarter  sections  of  land.  This  had  reference  to  a  bill  intro- 
duced in  Congress  by  Daniel  P.  Cook,  ten  years  before,  and 
which  was  one  of  the  means  of  adding  to  his  popularity  and 
strength  in   Illinois. 

The  gubernatorial  election  of  1834  was  held  August  4, 
and  the  result  in  Cook  county  was  as  follows  : 

For  Governor, — Joseph  Duncan,  Democrat,  of  Jacksonville, 
309  ;  William  Kinney,  Whig,  of  Belleville,  201  ;  Robert  K.  Mc- 
Laughlin, of  Vandalia,  10  ;  James  Adams,  of  Springfield,  8. 
Total  528. 

The  honor  of  building  the  first  draw-bridge  and  the  first 
vessel  at  Chicago,  belongs  to  Nelson  R.  Norton,  who  lived  in 
later  years  at  Alden,  Freeborn  county,  Minnesota.  Mr.  Norton 
came  to  Chicago,  November  16,  1833.  He  was  born  at  Hamp- 
ton, Washington  county,  N.Y.,  November  8,  1807.  Soon  after  his 
arrival  here  he  commenced  cutting  the  lumber  for  a  draw-bridge, 
on  the  land  adjoining  Michigan  Avenue  south  of  the  city,  after- 
ward owned  by  Hiram  Pearsons.  He  commenced  building  the 
bridge  in  March,  1834,  and  it  was  completed  about  the  first  of 
June.  The  bridge  was  at  Dearborn  street.  Its  length  was 
about  300  feet ;  width  16  feet ;  with  an  opening  of  60  feet,  and 
having  a  double  draw.  The  cost  of  the  bridge  is  unknown. 
The  first  steamboat  that  passed  through  the  draw  of  the  bridge 
was  the  old  Michigan,  which  had  a  double  engine,  and  was  com- 
manded by  Capt-  C.  Blake,  and  owned  by  Oliver  Newberry  of 
Detroit.  Mr.  Norton  built  the  sloop  Clarissa  in  the  spring  of 
1835.  This  was  the  first  sail  vessel  launched  on  the  west  side  of 
Lake  Michigan,  if  not  the  first  on  the  lake.  Mr.  Norton  left 
Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1839.  The  first  shipment  of  freight 
down  the  lakes  was  in  1834,  being  a  lot  of  hides  from  cattle 
slaughtered  for  the  Government  troops. 

An  early  settler,  and  one  eminently  worthy  of  mention 
herein,  was  John  Watkins,  our  first  public  school  teacher.  Mr. 
Watkins  was  a  well-educated  man  having  many  fine  traits  of  char- 
acter and  a  genial  disposition.  He  was  a  man  of  the  best  of 
morals,  moreover,  and  in  the  year  1833  was  Secretary  of  the 
first  Temperance  Society.  He  subsequently  removed  to  the 
vicinity  of  Joliet,  111.,  where  he  died. 


CHAPTER     II. 

CHICAGO      INCORPORATED — THE      CHARTER      ELECTION — OGDEN     VS. 

KINZIE THE    CITY    SEAL PARTY    LINES    DRAWN THE     HARD 

CIDER  CAMPAIGN ABOLITIONISM MAYORS  MORRIS,   RAYMOND, 

LLOYD,  SHERMAN,  GARRETT,  CHAPIN  AND  CURTISS. 

In  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1836  there  were  1,043 
votes  polled  in  Cook  county,  and  the  Whigs  and  Democrats  had 
become  nearly  a  tie  in  national  politics.  William  Henry  Har- 
rison, Whig,  received  524  votes,  and  Martin  Van  Buren,  Demo- 
crat^ 19  votes.  Chicago  and  Cook  county  had  at  this  time  prac- 
tically become  Democratic,  for  Harrison,  who  received  only  five 
majority,  was  a  Western  man  and  vastly  more  popular  among  the 
frontier  settlers  than  Van  Buren,  who  was  regarded  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  strictly  Eastern  interests. 

It  was  at  about  the  time  of  the  close  of  this  campaign  that 
the  question  of  procuring  a  city  charter  and  enlarging  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  town  began  to  be  agitated  by  the  citizens  of 
Chicago.  Influence  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  Board  of  Town 
Trustees,  and  the  last  Board,  of  which  Eli  B.  Williams  was  Pres- 
ident, ordered  a  meeting  to  be  called  in  the  Saloon  building  for 
public  discussion  and  consultation  upon  a  city  charter.  The 
Saloon  was  the  first  public  hall  erected  in  Chicago.  It  was  a 
large  building  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Lake  and  Clark  streets, 
and  was  built  for  Capt.  John  B.  F.  Russell.  Capt.  Russell  was 
an  officer  in  the  regular  army,  and  was  here  upon  detached  In- 
dian service,  and  superintended  the  final  removal  of  the  Indians 
to  their  Western  reservations.  He  resigned  from  the  service  in 
June,  1837,  and  was  the  first  to  establish  an  office  in  Chicago  for 
the  sale  and  purchase  of  real  estate  and  the  payment  of  taxes. 
For  many  years  "The  Saloon"  building  was  the  great  place 
of  public  resort,  where  Justice  Courts,  public  meetings  and  balls 
were  held,  and  it  became  identified  by  name  with  nearly  every 
public  event,  many  of  far  more  than  local  importance. 

The  growing  requirements  of  Chicago  necessitated  the  fre- 
quent amendment  of  the  Town  Charter  during  the  winter  of 
1836-7. 

3  (33) 


34  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  Chicago  American  of  January  21,  1837,  says:  "The 
interests  of  our  town  require  a  charter  ;  the  constant  example  of 
our  Eastern  cities  will  justify  us  in  altering  it  at  every  session 
until  it  meets  the  wants  of  a  large  commercial  town.  However 
much  we  may  have  neglected  other  privileges  under  our  charter, 
we  certainly  have  availed  ourselves  of  that  of  "altering  it  at 
every  session,'  until  it  has  become  like  the  old  lady's  stocking, 
'darned  so  much  that  none  of  the  original  remains.'  " 

The  provisions  of  a  city  charter  were  finally  agreed  upon, 
and  the  Board  of  Town  Trustees  sent  a  messenger  by  stage 
coach  with  it  to  Vandalia,  about  75  miles  below  Springfield,  where 
the  State  Legislature  was  in  session  and  it  was  speedily  enacted 
into  a  law.  Pursuant  to  its  provisions  the  city  was  districted  into 
wards,  and  the  Board  of  Town  Trustees  called  the  first  charter 
election  for  May  2,  1837.  The  ward  boundaries  were  fixed  as 
follows  : 

First  Ward — South  side,  east  of  Clark  street. 

Second  Ward — South  side,  west  of  Clark  street  to  the 
river. 

Third  Ward — South  of  West  Randolph  street,  west  of  the 
river. 

Fourth  Ward — West  of  the  river,  north  of  West  Randolph 
street. 

Fifth  Ward — North  of  the  river,  west  of  North  Clark 
street. 

Sixth  Ward — North  of  the  river,  east  of  North  Clark 
street. 

The  Town  Corporation  proceedings  containing  the  notice 
for  the  first  city  election,  naming  the  inspectors  and  locating  the 
polls,  it  is  believed  have  not  before  been  printed  in  any  form  since 
the  city  records  were  destroyed  in  the  great  fire.  The  proceed- 
ings were  as  follows  : 

CORPORATION    PROCEEDINGS,    APRIL    8,    1 83  7. 

On  motion  it  was  ordered  and  appointed,  That  the  first 
election  for  the  Charter  officers  under  the  act  entitled,  "An  Act 
to  Incorporate  the  City  of  Chicago,"  shall  be  holden  and  take 
place  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  May,  A.  D.  1837,  and  the  follow- 
ing named  places  of  holding  such  first  election,  and  the  follow- 
ing persons  for  inspectors  of  said  election,  were  also  duly 
appointed,  viz.: 

First  Ward — "Eagle;"  Inspectors,  Wilson  McClintock,  E. 
H.  Hadduck  and  Francis  C.  Sherman. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  35 

Second  Ward — Lincoln's  Coffee  House ;  Inspectors,  Alex- 
ander Lloyd,  P.  F.  W.  Peck  and  George  W.  Dole. 

Third  Ward — House  of  Charles  Taylor;  Inspectors,  Ash- 
bel  Steel,  Charles  Taylor  and  George  Vardon. 

Fourth  Ward — Chicago  Hotel  (Cox's),  David  Cox,  John  C. 
Hugunin,  F.  A.  Howe. 

Fifth  Ward — Canal  Office  ;  Joel  Manning,  Patrick  Murphy, 
Bingsley  Huntoon. 

Sixth  Ward — Franklin  House  (Eaches  &  Dennis),  Gholson 
Kerchival,  John  H.  Kinzie,   Edmund   S.  Kimberly. 

As  may  be  well  imagined,  the  charter  election  was  an  event 
of  great  importance  to  the  people,  who  had  discovered  that  their 
necessities  of  government  had  outgrown  the  narrow  limits  of  a 
town  form  and  who  were  about  to  assume  the  dignity  of  a  city. 
The  proper  provisions  of  a  charter,  under  which  the  city  could 
be  satisfactorily  governed,  had  been  duly  discussed  in  "town 
meetings,"  and  it  was  not  until  the  importance  of  the  move  had 
been  considered  in  all  its  bearings  that  formal  action  was  taken. 
A  caucus  of  the  citizens  was  then  held,  and  the  following  ticket, 
called  the  Democratic  ticket,  was  nominated: 

For  Mayor: 

WILLIAM  B.  OGDEN. 

For  High  Constable: 

JOHN  SHRIGLEY. 

For  Aldermen: 

1st  Ward— J.  C.  Goodhue,  F.  C.  Sherman. 

2d  Ward— Peter  Bolles,  John  S.  C.  Hogan. 

3d  Ward — John   Dean  Caton. 

4th  Ward — Ashael  Pierce,  Francis  H.  Taylor. 

5th  Ward — Bernard  Ward. 

6th  Ward — Samuel  Jackson,  Hiram  Pearsons. 

For  Assessors: 

i  st  Ward — Eli  B.  Williams.  4th  Ward — Lucien  Pay  ton. 

2d  Ward — Silas  W.  Sherman.  6th  Ward — Gholson  Kerchival. 

A  single  caucus  ticket  placed  in  the  field  of  course  caused 
opposition,  and  another  ticket,  called  the  Whig  ticket,  containing 
the  names  of  "Anti-caucus"  candidates  was  placed  before  the 
voters.     This  ticket  was  made  up  as  follows: 


36 


POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 


Whig  Ticket: 

ANTI-CAUCUS   CANDIDATES. 

For  Mayor: 

JOHN    H.  KINZIE. 

For  High  Constable: 

ALVIN  CALHOUN. 

For  Aldermen: 

ist  Ward — Charles  L.  Harmon,  Giles  Spring. 
2d  Ward — George  W.  Dole,  Thomas  Brock. 
4th  Ward — Alex.  Logan,  John  C.  Hugunin. 
6th  Ward— John  B.  F.  Russell,  Nelson  R.  Norton. 


4th  Ward — William  Forsyth. 
6th  Ward— Amos  C.  Hamilton. 


For  Assessors: 

ist  Ward — Erastus  Bowen. 
2d  Ward — Jeremiah  Price. 

It  will  be  observed  that  not  much  attention  was  paid  to  na- 
tionality lines  in  the  make-up  of  our  first  city  tickets.  As  for  Mr. 
Kinzie,  he  was  an  early  settler  and  extremely  popular,  but  the 
election  of  Mr.  Ogden  showed  that  the  voters  of  the  future  me- 
tropolis admired  his  spirit  and  enterprise,  and  were  already  im- 
bued with  the  desire  for  rapid  advancement  of  their  material 
interests.  Each  ward  was  entitled  under  the  charter  to  two 
aldermen  to  be  elected  annually,  except  the  Third  and  Fifth 
wards,  which  were  entitled  to  but  one  alderman  each  until  1839. 
The  aldermen  were  by  virtue  of  their  offices  Commissioners  of 
Common  Schools. 

The  election  duly  occurred  and  resulted  as  follows: 

Total  vote, 
ist  ward,  William  B.  Ogden  102  John  H.  Kinzie  65 


2d 

3d 
4th 
5th 
6th 


Ibl 

29 

49 

58 

73 


nzie  65 

167 

"       60 

'          24I 

"         9 

'              38 

"        10 

59 

i<              2 

00 

"          71 

144 

Totals  492 

The  vote  by  divisions  on  totals,  was: 

North  Division 

South         " 

West  "  - 


217 


709 


204 

408 
97 


709 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  tf 

The  above  is  the  first  absolutely  correct  statement  of  the 
votes  cast  at  our  first  city  election  by  wards  and  divisions,  ever 
published.  The  balance  of  the  Democratic  ticket  was  elected  by 
substantially  the  same  majority  as  Mr.  Ogden  received. 

John  H.  Kinzie  was  the  son  of  John  Kinzie,  our  earliest 
actual  householder,  who  purchased  from  Point  Au  Sable,  or  built 
for  himself,  a  log  house  on  the  North  side  nearly  opposite  the 
fort.  John  H.  Kinzie  was  born  in  Sandwich,  Upper  Canada, 
July  7,  1803,  one  year  before  the  construction  of  Fort  Dearborn, 
and  he  was  consequently  nine  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  mas- 
sacre. He  had  a  vivid  recollection  of  his  father's  flight  with  his 
family  to  Detroit,  and  wrote  and  published  subsequently  a  "Nar- 
rative of  the  Massacre  of  Chicago,"  which  brought  him  much 
notoriety  and  had  a  large  sale.  He  is  remembered  as  a  man  of 
genial  qualities,  who  ever  retained  personal  friendship,  and  he 
possessed  in  a  great  degree  the  sturdy  traits  6f  character  for 
which  his  father,  the  brave  and  hardy  pioneer,  John  Kinzie,  was 
noted.  Through  the  massacre,  apprenticed  to  the  American  Fur 
Company,  the  first  white  man  at  Waukegan,  Indian  agent,  elected 
Town  Trustee  on  August  11,  1S34,  pre-emptor  of  "Kinzie's  Ad- 
dition," Register  of  Public  Lands  in  1841,  member  and  one  of 
the  directors  of  the  Board  of  Trade  at  its  organization,  President 
of  Chicago's  first  bank,  Receiver  of  the  Land  Office  from  April 
12,  1849,  unt^  March  28,  1853,  Paymaster  of  the  army  from  1861 
to  1865,  John  H.  Kinzie's  name  dwells  among  us  now  in  the  rec- 
ollections awakened  when  the  Kinzie  school  or  Kinzie  street  are 
mentioned.  From  his  earliest  boyhood  until  his  death  on  the 
cars  near  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  June  19,  1865,  he  was  more  intimately 
identified  with  Chicago  and  its  interests  than  any  other  man, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  William  B.  Ogden. 

The  best  biography  extant  of  William  B.  Ogden  is  contained 
in  the  address  of  the  Hon.  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  delivered  before  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society  December  20,  1881.  Mayor  Ogden 
was  the  most  prominent  figure  in  the  history  of  Chicago,  from 
1835  until  his  death  in  1877.  For  the  first  forty  years  of  our  ex- 
istence as  a  city,  he  was  our  representative  man.  His  active 
mind  originated  most,  and  aided  largely,  in  the  execution  of 
nearly  all  of  our  public  improvements.  He  built,  or  caused  to 
be  built,  the  first  drawbridge  across  the  Chicago  river.  He  laid 
out  and  opened  many  miles  of  streets  in  the  north  and  west  divi- 
sions of  the  city  ;  aided  in  digging  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal;  advocated,  with  ability,  laws  necessary  for  its  construction 
and  enlargement ;  projected  and  built  hundreds,  nay,  thousands  of 


38  POLITICS    AND   POLITICIANS, 

miles  of  the  railways  which  have  built  up  Chicago  ;  he  had  much 
to  do  with  our  water-supply,  our  sewerage  and  park  system,  and, 
indeed,  nearly  all  our  great  enterprises  of  public  improvement. 

He  was  born  June  15,  1805,  at  Walton,  a  town  in  the  wild 
and  mountainous  county  of  Delaware,  New  York,  and  died 
August  3,  1877,  at  n^s  country-seat,  Boscobel  near  High  Bridge, 
on  the  Harlem.  His  father  died  while  he  was  yet  a  lad,  and, 
being  the  oldest  son,  he  was  early  placed  in  a  position  of  respon- 
sibility, as  the  head  of  a  large  family.  His  boyhood  was  passed 
among  the  picturesque  valleys  and  hills  of  Delaware  county.  In 
1834  he  had  become  a  leading  man  in  his  native  county,  of  great 
and  deserved  popularity,  and  was  selected  to  represent  Delaware 
in  the  New  York  Legislature.  Here,  as  a  member  of  the  As- 
sembly, he  became  intimately  acquainted  with  the  able  and  dis- 
tinguished men  who,  under  the  name  of  the  "Albany  Regency," 
so  long  controlled  the  politics  of  New  York. 

He  was  elected  as  the  special  advocate  and  champion  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  then  lately  projected,  and  made  a 
most  remarkable  speech  for  that  time,  in  which  he  said:  "Contin- 
uous railways  from  New  York  to  Lake  Erie,  and  south  of  Lake 
Erie,  through  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  to  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  connecting  with  railroads  running  to  Cincinnati, 
and  Louisville  in  Kentucky,  and  Nashville  in  Tennessee,  and  to 
New  Orleans,  will  present  the  most  splendid  system  of  internal 
communication  ever  yet  devised  by  man." 

In  1835  Mr.  Ogden  became  associated  with  a  company  of 
Eastern  capitalists,  who  under  the  name  of  the  "American  Land 
Company,"  were  making  very  large  investments  at  Chicago,  and 
elsewhere  in  the  West.  At  the  instance  of  Charles  Butler,  who 
had  large  investments  in  Chicago,  he  removed  to  this  city,  to 
manage  these  large  interests. 

Until  the  erection  of  his  own  beautiful  residence  on  Ontario 
street,  Mr.  Ogden  lived  at  the  old  Lake  House.  This  was  a 
large  brick  structure,  far  in  advance  of  the  times,  and  would  have 
been  deemed  a  comfortable  hotel  even  in  these  days  of  luxury 
and  extravagance.  It  was  built  in  1835,  and  opened  in  1836, 
situated  on  Rush  street  and,  running  through  from  Michigan  to 
Kinzie  street,  it  faced  across  the  river,  on  the  south,  the  neatly- 
kept  and  bright  whitewashed  stockade,  pickets,  and  buildings  of 
old  Fort  Dearborn.  The  river  was  spanned  by  a  rope-ferry,  and 
across  it  was  this  military  post,  with  its  grass-plot  shaded  by  the 
old  historic  honey  locust,  and  within  the  pickets  stood  the  granite 
boulder  which  tradition  said  "had  been  the  Indian  stone  of  sac- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  T>9 

rifice  and  death,"  and  on  which  Daniel  Webster,  in  1837,  stood 
while  addressing-  the  people. 

Mr.  Ogden  was  the  father  of  the  vast  railway  system  in  the 
Northwest,  a  system  which  has  done  so  much  to  develop  and 
build  up  this  portion  of  our  country.  Beginning  with  the  Galena 
and  Chicago  Union  Railroad,  from  Chicago  to  Fox  river,  with  a 
far-seeing  sagacity  and  bold  enterprise,  and  a  faith  which  led  him 
to  invest  in  these  works  not  only  his  private  fortune  but  his 
credit,  he  kept  pace  with,  or  anticipated,  the  growth  of  the  West; 
until  from  the  strap  railway  from  Chicago  to  Elgin,  he  went  on 
step  by  step  until  he  was  the  President  of  the  Union  Pacific, 
being  connected  more  or  less  with  all  the  great  roads  from  the 
East  by  the  Lakes  to  the  Mississippi,  and  on  to  Lake 
Superior. 

In  the  spring  of  1837  he  was  elected  mayor — the  first  mayor 
of  Chicago.  From  that  time  until  his  death,  in  1877,  he  was 
constantly  engaged  in  public  works.  He  made  miles  upon  miles 
of  streets;  he  zealously  advocated  the  public  parks;  he  was  lead- 
ing contractor  on  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal,  and  ever  one  of 
its  ablest  and  most  efficient  advocates  ;  he  was  President  of  the 
Board  of  Sewerage  Commissioners ;  and  there  is  scarcely  a  rail- 
road leading  to  or  from  Chicago,  east,  west,  north  or  south,  with 
which  he  has  not  had  important  association,  and  to  which  he  did 
not  render  efficient  service,  so  that  his  acts  are  written  in  lines  of 
iron  all  over  the  West. 

In  early  life  he  was,  as  he  called  himself,  a  Jeffersonian 
Democrat.  He  went  into  the  New  York  Legislature  as  a  Dem- 
ocrat. But  he  was  never  a  partisan  ;  and  when  the  question  of 
slavery  became  prominent  by  the  annexation  of  Texas,  he  was  an 
earnest  anti-slavery  man.  He  was  in  full  sympathy  with  those 
from  Illinois  who,  in  1848,  went  to  the  Buffalo  Convention  and 
organized  the  Free  Soil  Party,  and  he  headed  the  electoral  ticket 
in  this  state,  in  favor  of  Van  Buren  and  Adams ;  and  from  that 
time  on,  to  i860,  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  Free  Soil  and 
Republican  parties.  He  supported  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  Presi- 
dency, and  was  elected  to  the  Illinois  Legislature  on  the  same 
ticket. 

Mr.  Arnold  says  that  between  i860  and  1862  he  seems  to 
have  fallen  under  influences  which  finally  alienated  him  from  the 
policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  expressed  fears  that  the  Administra- 
tion, by  the  exercise  of  what  were  called  the  "War  Powers,"  was 
revolutionizing  the  government.  He  did  not  approve  of  the 
"Emancipation    Proclamation."      These  considerations  brought 


40  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Mr.   Ogden  into  political  antagonism  with  many  of  his  old  per- 
sonal and  political  friends  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Ogden's  most  notable  trait  of  character  was  the  power 
to  attract  men  and  inspire  personal  confidence  and  attachment. 
In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Arnold,  supplying-  material  for  his  address,  Mr. 
O.  B.  Green  relates  that  in  1856-7  while  Mr.  Ogden  was  travel- 
ing in  Europe  he  met  a  wealthy  Scotch  lord,  whom  he  so  attracted 
as  to  bring  from  him,  a  few  years  later,  when  Mr.  Ogden  was  in 
stringent  financial  surroundings,  the  following  note  : 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Ogden: — I  hear  you  are  in  trouble.  I  have 
placed  to  your  credit  in  New  York,  ^"100,000.  If  you  get 
through  I  know  you  will  return  it;  if  you  don't,  Jeanie  [his  wife] 
and  I  will  never  miss  it." 

Mr.  George  P.  A.  Healy,  the  famous  portrait  painter,  who 
executed  the  magnificent  portrait  of  Mr.  Ogden  that  now  adorns 
the  walls  of  the  Historical  Society,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Arnold, 
under  date  October  21,  1881,  gives  his  estimate  of  Mr.  O^den  as 
follows,  relating  also  an  anecdote  showing  the  enthusiastic  esti- 
mate  of  the  first  Mayor  of  Chicago  held  by  M.  Guizot,  the  French 
historian  : 

"In  the  summer  of  1855  Dr.  Brainard  presented  me  to  Mr. 
Ogden,  who  also  sat  to  me.  I  found  him  in  conversation  a 
worthy  rival  of  the  three  best  I  ever  met,  viz.:  Louis  Phillippe, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Dr.  O.  A.  Bronson.  M.  Guizot  once 
called  at  my  atelier,  in  Paris,  accompanied  by  the  Due  de  Mon- 
tebello,  to  see  the  whole-length  portrait  of  Mr.  Ogden,  that  was 
lost  in  the  Chicago  fire.  Said  the  great  historian  and  statesman, 
'That  is  the  representative  American,  who  is  a  benefactor  of  his 
country,  especially  the  mighty  West ;  he  built  and  owns  Chicago.' 

"I  remarked,  'Pardon  me,  M.  Guizot,  doubtless  he  owns 
much,  but  not  all.'     He  answered  with  spirit: 

"Yes;  all,  all." 

Mr.  Ogden  may  have  well  felt  loth  to  return  to  the  West 
after  the  great  Chicago  fire  of  187 1.  With  his  other  numerous 
buildings,  every  vestige  of  his  Chicago  home,  which,  when  erected 
in  1837,  was  the  finest  in  Chicago,  and  ever  after,  until  its  des- 
truction, distinguished  for  its  hospitality,  both  to  residents  and 
visitants  from  abroad,  had  disappeared.  He  arrived  in  the  city 
the  day  following  the  sweep  of  the  fire  through  the  North  Divi- 
sion, and  found  nothing  left  of  his  buildings  but  smoking  ruins; 
even  his  elegant  residence  gone.  The  following  day  he  received 
news  of  the  total  destruction  of  his  immense  lumber  establish- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  4 1 

ment  at  Peshtigo.  His  individual  loss  in  the  two  fires  exceeded 
$2,000,000,  but  undaunted,  with  a  firm  and  Christian  spirit,  he 
set  to  work  immediately,  to  restore  his  shattered  fortunes.  He 
worked  in  his  shirt  sleeves  from  daylight  to  dark  until  his  Peshtigo 
possessions  began  to  reappear,  he  came  to  the  city  to  help  and 
encourage  others,  and  at  last,  weary  from  the  turmoil  of  an  active 
and  well  spent  life  he  settled  down  with  his  newly  married  wife, 
Miss  Mary  Anna  Arnot,  daughter  of  Judge  Arnot,  of  Elmira,  in 
a  beautiful  villa  at  High  Bridge,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
and  enjoyed  the  latter  days  of  existence  in  the  peace  and  enjoy- 
ment that  rewards  life's  mission  well  performed. 

While  there  is  no  formal  message  of  Mayor  Ogden's  known 
to  be  extant  it  is  within  the  recollection  of  people  still  living, 
that  he  made  many  valuable  suggestions  as  to  public  improve- 
ments, and  always  endeavored  to  make  them  of  as  permanent  a 
character  as  possible,  with  an  eye  to  the  requirements  of  the  Chi- 
cago of  the  future,  for  in  the  eventual  greatness  of  the  city  he 
had  the  utmost  confidence.  In  1835,  when  Mr.  Ogden  came 
here  Chicago  was  a  very  muddy,  straggling  village  of  about  1,500 
inhabitants.  In  1837,  when  he  was  elected  Mayor,  it  had 
only  about  3,500,  and  in  1847  when  the  first  successful  railroad 
enterprise  west  of  Lake  Michigan  was  entered  upoa ;  that  of  the 
Galena  &  Chicago  Union,  for  which  Mr.  Ogden  so  earnestly  and 
energetically  labored,  the  population  of  the  city  was  less  than 
17,000,  and  its  assessed  valuation  did  not  amount  to  $6,000,000. 
There  was  no  man  in  Chicago  who  could  conveniently  or  was 
disposed  to  subscribe  for  more  than  $5,000  in  the  stock  of  the 
railroad  company,  and  the  enterprise  not  only  required  faith 
and  energy,  but  the  soliciting  of  subscriptions  from  every  person 
who  could  take  even  one  share  of  its  stock.  The  Galena  com- 
pany had  in  its  early  day,  1,800  stockholders  of  one  share  each, 
all  of  its  stock  having  been  subscribed  for  as  a  public  duty,  and 
not  as  an  investment. 

At  the  date  of  this  writing  it  is  believed  the  school  census 
of  1886  will  show  a  population  of  750,000,  and  that  the  year  1890 
will  show  a  close  approach  in  population  to  the  million  mark. 
Mr.  Ogden's  first  investments  were  in  real  estate.  After  his 
election  as  Mayor  he  built  a  magnificent  residence  on  Ontario 
street  in  the  center  of  a  beautiful  lot,  occupying  an  entire  square, 
and  thickly  covered  by  a  fine  growth  of  native  forest  trees.  His 
operations  in  real  estate  in  the  aggregate  were  immense.  In  this 
connection,  and  as  showing  the  practical  character  of  improve- 
ments inaugurated  by  him  and  his  concern  for  the  public  credit, 


42  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

nothing  better  illustrates  these  features  of  his  character  than  the 
reminiscenses  of  the  Hon.  J.  Young  Scammon,  who  said  in  an 
address  in  1881: 

"He  has  sold  real  estate  for  himself  and  others  to  an  amount 
exceeding  ten  millions  of  dollars,  requiring  many  thousand  deeds 
and  contracts  which  he  has  personally  signed.  Previous  to  1857, 
the  sales  of  his  house  equaled  nearly  one  million  of  dollars  per 
annum.  In  real  estate  improvements  he  made  many  rough  places 
smooth,  and  the  crooked  way  straight.  More  than  one  hundred 
miles  of  streets,  and  hundreds  of  bridges  at  street  corners,  besides 
several  other  bridges,  including  two  over  the  Chicago  river,  were 
made  by  him,  at  the  private  expense  of  himself  and  clients,  and 
at  a  cost  of  probably  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  *  *  * 
He  was  early  engaged  in  introducing  into  extensive  use  in  the 
West  McCormick's  reaping  and  mowing  machines,  and  building 
up  the  first  large  factory  for  their  manufacture.  In  this  manu- 
factory, during  his  connection  with  it,  and  at  his  suggestion,  was 
built  the  first  reaper  sent  to  England,  which,  at  the  great  London 
Exhibition  in  185 1  did  so  much  for  the  credit  of  American  prac- 
tical inventive  genius. 

"He  was  a  contractor  upon  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal, 
and  his  efforts  to  prevent  its  suspension,  and  to  resuscitate  and 
complete  it,  were  untiring. 

"There  is  no  brighter  page  in  Mr.  Ogden's  history  than  that 
which  records  his  devotion  to  the  preservation  of  the  public 
credit.  The  first  time  that  we  recollect  to  have  heard  him  ad- 
dress a  public  meeting  was  in  the  autumn  of  1837,  wmle  he  held 
the  office  of  Mayor.  Some  frightened  debtors,  assisted  by  a  few 
demagogues,  had  called  a  meeting  to  take  measures  to  have  the 
courts  suspended,  or  some  way  devised  by  which  the  compulsory 
fulfilment  of  their  engagements  might  be  deferred  beyond  that 
period,  so  tedious  to  creditors,  known  as  the  'law's  delay.'  They 
sought  by  legislative  action,  or  'relief  laws,'  to  virtually  suspend, 
for  a  season,  the  collection  of  debts.  An  inflammatory  and  ad 
captandum  speech  had  been  made.  The  meeting,  which  was 
composed  chiefly  of  debtors,  seemed  quite  excited,  and  many  were 
rendered  almost  desperate  by  the  recital,  by  designing  men,  of 
their  sufferings  and  pecuniary  danger.  During  the  excitement, 
the  Mayor  was  called  for.  He  stepped  forward,  and  exhorted  his 
fellow  citizens  not  to  commit  the  folly  of  proclaiming  their  own 
dishonor.  He  besought  those  of  them  who  were  embarrassed, 
to  bear  up  against  adverse  circumstances  with  the  courage  of  men, 
remembering  that  no  misfortune  was  so  great  as  one's  own  per- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  43 

sonal  dishonor ;  that  it  were  better  for  them  to  conceal  their 
misfortunes  than  to  proclaim  them  ;  reminding  them  that  many  a 
fortress  had  saved  itself  by  the  courage  of  its  inmates,  and  their 
determination  to  conceal  its  weakened  condition,  when,  if  its  real 
state  had  been  known,  its  destruction  would  have  been  inevitable 
and  immediate.  'Above  all  things,'  said  he,  'do  n'ot  tarnish  the 
honor  of  our  infant  city.' 

"To  the  credit  of  Chicago,  be  it  said,  this  first  attempt  at 
'repudiating  debts'  met,  from  a  majority  of  that  meeting,  and 
from  our  citizens,  a  rebuff  no  less  pointed  than  deserved  ;  and 
those  who  attempted  it  merited  contempt." 

A  quotation  of  two  or  three  examples  from  Mr.  Ogden's 
own  note  book  will  show  more  clearly  than  anything  else,  the 
wonderfully  rapid  advance  in  the  value  of  property  in  Chicago, 
which,  as  has  been  shown,  grew  in  population  from  about  4,500 
in  1840  to  over  700,000  in  1886.  He  says  :  "I  purchased  in  1845, 
property  for  $15,000  which,  twenty  years  thereafter,  in  1865,  was 
worth  ten  millions  of  dollars.  In  1844  I  purchased  for  $8,000, 
what,  eight  years  thereafter,  sold  for  three  millions  of  dollars, 
and  these  cases  could  be  extended  almost  indefinitely." 

While  the  official  seal  of  the  city  of  Chicago  was  not  de- 
signed and  adopted  until  some  time  after  the  charter  election, 
reference  to  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  at  this  stage  of  our  muni- 
cipal history.  The  design  on  the  face  of  the  seal  is  an  Indian 
with  his  bow  and  quiver,  facing  an  approaching  vessel  under  full 
sail.  Suspended  at  the  top  is  an  Indian  cradle  containing  an 
infant.  It  is  said  the  arrival  of  the  United  States  schooner, 
Tracy,  from  Detroit,  in  the  summer  of  1804,  with  supplies  for 
the  building  of  Fort  Dearborn,  suggested  the  idea  of  the  ship 
on  the  seal.  This  vessel  did  not  enter  the  river,  but  anchored 
beyond  the  bar,  and  discharged  its  freight  by  boats.  Some  2,000 
Indians  were  attracted  by  the  spectacle  and  gathered  along  the 
shore  of  the  lake,  to  view,  as  they  said,  the  "big  canoe  with 
wings."  It  suggested  also  the  manner  in  which  the  first  white 
settlers  arrived  on  the  site  of  Chicago.  The  infant  in  the  cradle 
represented  the  embryo  city.  The  Hon.  John  Wentworth,  who 
was  present  at  the  first  consultation  about  the  city  seal,  says  the 
idea  was  that  when  barbarism  gave  way  to  civilization,  when  the 
savages  retreated  before  commerce,  the  infant  in  the  cradle  was 
to  wake  up.  Mr.  Wentworth,  in  his  "Reminiscences  of  Early 
Chicago,"  quaintly  says:  "Gen.  Wayne  spelled  Chicago  with  a 
'j.'  The  baby's  name  in  1795  was  'jo.'  He  had  not  got  the 
'go'  then.      It  was  Chica-jo." 


44  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  oldest  building  standing  in  Chicago  in  1886  is  the  old 
Clybourne  residence,  a  short  distance  off  of  the  avenue  of  that 
name.  The  next  oldest  building  was  the  "  Green  Tree  Inn,"  at 
the  northeast  corner  of  Lake  and  Canal  streets,  which  was 
erected  in  1831  and  demolished  in  1881  to  make  room  for  a 
handsome  brick  structure.  Our  nearest  land-office  was  in  South- 
ern Illinois,  at  Palestine,  Crawford  county,  until  1834,  when  one 
was  established  at  Danville,  Vermillion  county,  a  little  further 
north.  There  was  none  at  Chicago  until  1835,  when  Col.  Ed- 
mund D.  Taylor  was  appointed  receiver.  In  1830  there  were 
fifteen  dwelling  houses,  only  three  of  which  remained  in  1857, 
and  less  than  100  inhabitants.  The  principal  settlement  here 
was  at  the  forks  of  the  Chicago  river,  called  "Wolf  Point," 
where  a  tavern,  schoolhouse,  and  meeting  house  were  located, 
and  where  Jesse  Walker,  a  Methodist  missionary  residing  at 
Plainfield,  Will  county,  occasionally  preached. 

When  Chicago  was  laid  out  into  lots  by  the  Canal  Commis- 
sioners in  August,  1830,  they  were  sold  for  from  $10  to  $60  each. 
In  the  winter  of  1832-3,  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  was  a  member  of 
the. Illinois  Legislature,  and  he  introduced  the  first  railroad  bill 
ever  introduced  into  that  body.  It  passed  the  House  and  was 
lost  in  the  Senate  by  the  casting  vote  of  Lieutenant-Governor 
Casey.  Congress  had  given  the  power  to  make  either  a  railroad 
or  a.  canal.  On  November  26,  1833,  the  first  newspaper,  the 
Chicago  Democrat,  was  established  by  John  Calhoun. 

In  1835  the  Chicago  American  was  started  by  Thomas  O. 
Davis. 

The  Chicago  Daily  American  was  started  Tuesday,  April  9, 
1839,  by  William  Stuart,  who  had  purchased  the  weekly  from 
Mr.  Davis  in  1837.  The  daily  was  issued  in  the  morning  until 
December  20,  1839,  when  it  was  changed  to  an  evening  paper. 
July  28,  1841,  Mr.  Stuart  was  appointed  postmaster,  and  surren- 
dered the  editorial  chair  to  William  W.  Brackett. 

October  9,  1841,  Alexander  Stuart,  brother  of  William,  pur- 
chased the  paper,  and  on  July  20,  1842,  Buckner  S.  Morris  pur- 
chased it,  and  October  18,  1842,  the  Daily  American  ceased  to 
exist.  It  was  resuscitated  by  William  W.  Brackett,  under  the 
name  of  the  Chicago  Express,  October  24,  1842,  as  an  afternoon 
paper.  Mr.  Brackett  continued  the  Express  until  April  20,  1844, 
his  office  being  then  in  the  third  story  of  Asher  Rossiter's  block, 
opposite  the  Tremont  House,  when  he  sold  the  good-will,  stock 
and  fixtures  to  a  committee  consisting  of  Walter  L.  Newberry, 
S.  Lisle  Smith,  J.  Young  Scammon,  George  W.  Meeker,  John 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  45 

Frink,  Jacob  Russell,  Giles  Spring-,  Grant  Goodrich,  Buckner  S. 
Morris,  and  George  W.  Dole.  The  consideration  was  $1,500, 
and  these  gentlemen  then  instituted  the  Chicago  Daily  Journal 
on  April  22,  1844,  making  Richard  L.  Wilson  and  James  Wel- 
lington Norris  its  editors.  This  was  the  inception  of  the  present 
Even  ing  Jott  rnal. 

November  23,  1836,  John  Wentworth  became  editor  of  the 
Chicago  Weekly  Democrat,  established,  as  stated,  in  1833  by 
John  Calhoun,  and  which  Mr.  Wentworth  shortly  afterward  pur- 
chased. In  1840  he  started  the  Daily  Democrat,  the  first  Demo- 
cratic daily  in  the  Northwest. 

A  newspaper  of  December  24,  1836,  announces  that  Presi- 
dent Jackson's  message  to  Congress  was  only  twelve  days  en  route 
from  Washington.  It  was  published  here  Saturday,  and  the  edi- 
tor announced  that  he  would  have  issued  it  Thursday  but  for  the 
extreme  cold  weather. 

Land  speculation  had  become  so  brisk  in  1835  tnat  from 
January  4  to  October  21  of  that  year  the  papers  announce  that 
Augustus  Garrett,  afterward  Mayor  of  the  city,  had  sold  land  at 
his  auction  rooms  to  the  amount  of  $1,800,000.  The  people  had 
commenced  litigation  so  much  that  at  the  opening  of  the  Cook 
county  Circuit  Court  in  May,  1836,  there  were  230  cases  on  the 
civil  docket,  and  the  court  sat  two  weeks.  Litigation  so  increased 
that  in  May,  1837,  there  were  700  cases  on  the  civil  docket.  The 
newspapers  pointed  to  the  alarming  fact  that  over  a  million  dol- 
lars were  involved  in  these  cases. 

On  the  evening  of  the  15th  of  January,  1836,  the  citizens 
assembled  in  mass  meeting,  and  voted  that  twelve  guns  be  fired 
for  each  man  that  voted  for  the  canal  bill,  and  that  the  newspa- 
pers (there  were  then  but  the  two  weeklies)  be  requested  to  pub- 
lish their  names  in  large  capitals,  and  the  names  of  those  who 
voted  against  the  bill  in  the  smallest  kind  of  italic  letters. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1836,  almost  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  the  city  went  down  to  where  the  canal  was  to  be  com- 
menced, then  called  Canalport,  and  celebrated  the  removal  of  the 
first  shovelful  of  dirt  by  the  Canal  Commissioners,  of  which 
Board  Col.  G.  S.  Hubbard  was  one,  and  he  made  a  speech.  Col. 
Edmund  D.  Taylor  and  Walter  Kimball,  later  the  City  Comp- 
troller, were  Marshals  on  the  occasion.  The  late  Dr.  William  B. 
Egan  delivered  the  oration.  Near  the  place  was  a  living  spring 
of  water.  It  is  related  that  several  boxes  of  lemons  were  chopped 
up  and  thrown  into  the  spring,  along  with  sufficient  sugar  to 
make  a  good,  running  article  of  lemonade,  and  the  experiment 


46  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

was  so  successful  that  some  person  emptied  a  whole  barrel  of 
whiskey  into  the  spring  and  made  a  flow  of  punch.  Several  old 
settlers  claim  that  this  throwing  of  whisky  and  lemons  into  a 
spring  also  took  place  at  the  time  that  John  Baptiste  Beaubien 
was  elected  Colonel  of  the  Militia,  at  the  house  of  Barney  H. 
Laughton,  at  the  present  site  of  Riverside. 

There  was  great  difficulty  in  the  settlement  of  social  lines, 
owing  to  the  prejudices  existing  between  the  emigrants  from  the 
South  and  the  East.  The  various  differences  were  carried  into 
business,  politics  and  the  churches.  All  Eastern  people  were 
considered  by  those  from  the  South  as  Yankees.  The  first  con- 
test was  a  political  one,  and  arose  over  the  convention  system. 
The  Southerners  denounced  it  as  a  Yankee  innovation  upon  the 
old  system  of  allowing  every  man  to  run  for  an  office  who  wanted 
to  do  so,  all  taking  chances  together  in  the  general  complicated 
scramble.  Thomas  Ford,  born  in  Uniontown,  Penn.,  in  1800, 
who  had  lived  in  Illinois  from  1804,  and  who  came  here  as  Judge, 
did  more  than  any  other  person  to  mollify  the  prejudices  of  the 
South  against  the  North.  He  early  foresaw  that  all  the  early 
settlers  of  Illinois  needed  was  the  growth  of  more  Yankee  thrift 
among  them  ;  and  he  told  his  friends  that  while  he  remained  here 
he  should  conform  to  the  Yankee  notions.  Nearly  all  of  the 
families  of  education  and  wealth  who  claimed  high  social  position 
were,  about  the  time  of  the  incorporatien  of  the  city,  settled  on 
the  North  side.  The  Lake  House,  the  first  brick  hotel  con- 
structed, was  the  fashionable  hotel.  On  the  South  side  were  the 
stores  and  other  hotels,  kept  for  the  accommodation  of  farmers 
who  came  to  the  city  with  produce  to  sell,  business  men  without 
families,  and  clerks.  The  ferry-boat  between  the  North  and 
South  sides  was  a  general  intelligence  office.  The  ferryman 
knew  nearly  every  person  in  the  town,  and  was  able  to  answer 
all  questions  as  to  who  had  crossed  and  where  they  could  be 
found.  Packages  and  letters  were  left  with  him  to  be  delivered 
to  persons  as  they  passed.  One  of  the  most  popular  gathering 
places  was  the  postoffice,  on  the  west  side  of  Franklin  street  at 
the  corner  of  South  Water.  The  mail  coach  was  irregular  in 
time  of  arrival,  but  the  sound  of  the  driver's  horn  was  the  signal 
for  assembly  at  the  postoffice.  During  exciting  times  the  busi- 
ness men  would  always  go  to  the  postoffice  themselves  instead  of 
sending  their  employes.  The  postmaster  would  throw  out  an 
Eastern  paper  and  a  reader  would  be  called  upon  to  station  him- 
self upon  a  dry  goods  box  and  read  the  latest  news  to  the  crowd. 
If  it  was  in  times  of  elections  and  political  excitement,  two  readers 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  47 

from  papers  of  opposite  politics  would  be  engaged.  Frequently 
disputes  arose  and  bets  would  be  made  as  the  reading  progressed. 
The  West  side  was  the  last  to  advance  in  population,  although  at 
one  time  prior  to  the  city's  incorporation  it  had,  as  now,  the  larg- 
est proportion  of  population.  These  were  the  conditions  existing 
when  the  exciting  campaign  of  1838  was  ushered  in.  There  had 
been  a  recent  financial  panic  which  had  paralyzed  business 
throughout  the  country,  and  left  in  its  wake  a  deplorable  state  of 
insecurity  and  uncertainty,  and  the  responsibility  for  this  condi- 
tion of  affairs  was  by  the  Whigs  attributed  to  the  weak  financial 
policy  of  the  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  administrations.  The 
Whig  party,  inspired  by  the  prevailing  discontent,  and  with  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1840  in  view,  brought  to  bear  every 
available  resource  in  contesting  the  elections.  It  was  in  this 
campaign  that  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Democrat,  and  John  T. 
Stuart,  Whig,  were  rivals  for  election  to  Congress.  They  held 
a  joint  debate  in  the  Saloon  building  August  4,  and  it  was  the 
"Little  Giant's"  first  appearance  in  Chicago  as  a  political 
speaker,  although  his  fame  had  preceded  him.  The  vote  polled 
throughout  the  state  in  the  Congressional  districts  a^crreqated 
36,000,  and  was  the  largest  ever  polled  up  to  that  time.  In  Cook 
county  the  Democrats  snowed  the  Whigs  under  by.  a  great  ma- 
jority, the  result  being : 

For  Congressman — Stephen  A.  Douglas,  1,667  !  Jonn  T. 
Stuart,  839. 

For  Governor — Thomas  Carlin,  Democrat,  1,664;  Cyrus 
Edwards,  Whig,  832. 

The  campaign  of  1840,  ever  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the 
nation,  found  Chicago  and  Cook  county  solidly  Democratic  and 
singularly  free  from  the  seemingly  unaccountable  enthusiasm  for 
the  Whig  candidate,  William  Henry  Harrison,  that  swept  over 
the  country.  The  Hon.  George  W.  Julian,  in  his  "Political 
Recollections,"  has  pointed  out  that  Gen.  Harrison  was  of  Revo- 
lutionary blood  ;  a  man  who  had  the  confidence  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  Republic  ;  a  man  of  undoubted  bravery,  with  an  honora- 
ble record  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  civilian,  and,  moreover,  that 
being  a  poor  man  and  a  plain  farmer  of  the  West,  seemed  to  add 
to  his  qualifications  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  The  Democratic 
journals  increased  his  popularity  by  unwisely  making  vindictive 
personal  attacks  upon  his  bravery,  and  the  log  cabin  and  cider 
barrel  devices  of  the  campaign  were  suggested  by  one  editor, 
who  made  the  contemptuous  observation  that  he  was  "a  man 
who   should  be  content  with  a  loe  cabin  and  a  barrel  of  hard 


48  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

cider,  without  aspiring  to  the  presidency."  The  first  great  meet- 
ing of  the  campaign  was  held  on  the  Tippecanoe  battle  ground 
May  29  and  30,  and  on  September  12  there  was  a  monster  meet- 
ing at  Dayton,  O.,  where  Gen.  Harrison  spoke  at  length,  which, 
it  is  estimated,  was  attended  by  two  hundred  thousand  people. 
Log  cabins,  cider  barrels,  canoes,  and  immense  balls  decorated 
with  the  stars  and  stripes,  were  conspicuous  emblems  of  this  cam- 
paign, but  probably  the  most  distinguishing  feature  was  the  cam- 
paign songs.  A  few  selections  from  these  once  popular  songs 
will  not  be  out  of  place  here,  and  if  they  revive  the  recollections 
of  but  a  few  of  the  campaigners  of  over  forty-six  years  ago,  they 
will  at  least  show  to  the  campaigners  of  1888  the  character  of  the 
songs  their  fathers  sang  before  them,  and  especially  will  their  re- 
vival be  apropos  if  a  Western  man  be  again  named  for  the 
presidency. 

The  following,  sung  to  the  tune  of  "Old  Rosin  the  Bow," 
was  quite  popular  : 

Come  ye  who,  whatever  betide  her, 

To  Freedom  have  sworn  to  be  true, 
Prime  up  with  a  cup  of  hard  cider, 

And  drink  to  Old  Tippecanoe. 


Parched  corn  men  can't  stand  it  much  longer, 
Enough  is  as  much  as  we'll  bear; 

With  Tip  at  our  head  in  October, 
We'll  tumble  Van  out  of  the  chair. 

Then  ho!  for  March  fourth,  forty -one,  boys, 
We'll  shout  till  the  heavens'  arched  blue 


Shall  echo  hard  cider  and  fun,  boys, 
Drink,  drink  to  Old  Tippecanoe. 


l>»rinK,  uririK  10  wiu  Aippcuaiiuc, 

The  harmless  pastime  of  dyeing  the  empyrean  blue  with  hard 
cider  in  1840,  it  will  be  observed,  has  given  way  to  the  question- 
able custom  of  painting  the  metropolis  red  in  later  campaigns. 


The  times  are  bad,  and  want  curing; 

They  are  getting  past  all  enduring; 

Let  "us  turn  out  Martin  Van  Buren, 
And  put  in  Old  Tippecanoe. 
The  best  thing  we  can  do 
Is  to  put  in  Old  Tippecanoe. 

It's  a  business  we  all  can  take  part  in, 
So  let  us  give  notice  to  Martin 
That  he  must  get  ready  for  startin', 
For  we'll  put  in  Old  Tippecanoe. 
The  best  thing  we  can  do 
Is  to  put  in  Old  Tippecanoe. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  49 

We've  had  of  their  humbug  a  plenty ; 
For  now  all  our  pockets  are  empty  ; 
We've  a  dollar  now  where  we  had  twenty, 

So  we'll  put  in  Old  Tippecanoe. 

The  best  thing  we  can  do 

Is  to  put  in  Old  Tippecanoe. 

After  the  Maine  State  election  a  new  song  appeared,  which 
became  at  once  immensely  popular  : 

And  have  you  heard  the  news  from  Maine, 

And  what  old  Maine  can  do? 

She  went  hell-bent  for  Governor  Kent, 

And  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 

And  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too. 

The  Democrats  could  devise  nothing  to  stem  the  sponta- 
neous and  remarkable  enthusiasm  that  characterized  the  Whig 
Tippecanoe-and-Tyler-too,  hard-cider  campaign,  but  Cook  county 
and  Chicago  were  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  of  defeat  and 
losses.  The  election  occurred  November  3,  and  the  result  was 
as  follows  : 

FOR    PRESIDENT. 

Cook  County — Martin  Van  Buren,  Democrat,  1,989  votes; 
William  Henry  Harrison,  Whig,  1,034. 

City  of  Chicago — Van  Buren,  807;  Harrison,  622. 

During  the  exciting  campaign  some  friend  of  Gen.  Harri- 
son's wrote  a  letter  for  the  well-known  Indian  chiefs,  Shabonee 
and  Sauganash,  to  sign,  which  gives  their  estimate  of  his  char- 
acter, and  also  relates  something  of  their  personal  history.  The 
letter  was  published  in  the  Chicago  Daily  American  of  June  9, 
1840,  and  of  course  attracted  the  attention  of  all  of  the  friends 
of  the  celebrated  chiefs,  and  was  used  to  good  effect  by  the 
supporters  of  Gen.  Harrison.     The  following  is  the  letter : 

Council  Bluffs,  March  23,  1840. 

To  Gen.  Harrison's  Friends: — The  other  day  several 
newspapers  were  brought  to  us  ;  and,  peeping  over  them,  to  our 
astonishment  we  found  that  the  hero  of  the  late  war  was  called  a 
coward.  This  would  have  surprised  the  tall  braves,  Tecumseh, 
of  the  Shawnees,  and  Round-Head  and  Walk-in-the-Water  of  the 
Wyandottes.  If  the  departed  could  rise  again,  they  would  say  to 
the  white  man  that  Gen.  Harrison  was  the  terror  of  the  late  toma- 
hawkers.  The  first  time  we  got  acquainted  with  General  Harri- 
son,  it  was  at   the  council   fire  of  the  late  Old  Tempest,  Gen. 

4 


50  POLITICS   AND    POLITICIANS, 

Wayne,  on  the  headquarters  of  the  Wabash,  at  Greenville,  1796. 
From  that  time  until  181 1  we  had  many  friendly  smokes  with 
him;  but  from  1812  we  changed  our  tobacco  smoke  into  powder 
smoke.  Then  we  found  Gen.  Harrison  was  a  brave  warrior  and 
humane  to  his  prisoners,  as  reported  to  us  by  two  of  Tecumseh's 
young  men,  who  were  taken  in  the  fleet  with  Capt.  Barclay  on 
the  10th  of  September,  181 3,  and  on  the  Thames  where  he  routed 
both  the  red  men  and  the  British,  and  where  he  showed  his  cour- 
age and  his  humanity  to  his  prisoners,  both  white  and  red.  See 
report  of  Adam  Brown  and  family,  taken  on  the  morning  of  the 
battle,  October  5,  181 3.  We  are  the  only  two  surviving  of  that 
day  in  this  country.  We  hope  the  good  white  men  will  protect 
the  name  of  Gen.  Harrison.     We  remain  your  friends  forever, 

Chamblee  [Shabonee],  Aide  to  Tecumseh. 

B.  Caldwell  [Sauganash],  Captain. 

Billy  Caldwell  could  read  and  write  English ;  Shabonee 
could  not.  From  the  construction  of  this  letter  it  would  hardly 
appear  that  Caldwell  wrote  it,  and  it  was  probably  prepared  and 
read  to  them,  when  they  afterward  affixed  their  signatures. 

Shabonee,  or  Chamblee  by  the  French  pronunciation,  was 
the  last  of  our  once  noted  Chicago  Indian  chiefs  to  die.  He  de- 
parted this  life  July  17,  1859,  on  his  farm  of  twenty  acres  near 
Morris,  Grundy  county,  III,  leaving  one  surviving  son  and  also 
a  grandson,  both  living  in  Kansas,  where  the  latter  about  1870 
became  one  of  the  principal  chiefs  of  the  decimated  tribe  of  Pot- 
tawatomies. 

While  the  slavery  issue  did  not  become  a  political  issue  of 
wide  dimensions  until  the  Free  Soil  movement  of  1848  set  in,  there 
were  a  few  active  Abolitionists  in  Chicago,  and  occasional  a^ita- 
tion  meetings  were  held.  A  meeting-  to  condemn  the  assault 
upon  the  constitutional  right  of  the  freedom  of  the  press  was 
held  in  the  Saloon  building  shortly  after  the  murder  of  Lovejoy 
at  Alton  1838.  The  Chicago  Colonization  Society  was  organ- 
ized September  3,  1839.  The  Chicago  Anti-Slavery  Society  held 
its  first  public  meeting  at  the  Saloon  building  January  16,  1840. 
The  officers  were  Henry  Smith,  President ;  Ira  Miltmore,  George 
Foster  and  J.  Johnston,  Vice  Presidents  ;  Calvin  De  Wolf,  Sec- 
retary ;  George  Manierre,  Treasurer.  Resolutions  were  offered 
by  the  Rev.  Flavel  Bascom,  Rev.  Isaac  T.  Hinton  and  Charles 
Durant,  favoring  the  adoption  of  some  practical  measures  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  and  denouncing  the  "  Black  Code  "  of  Illi- 
nois.   The  resolutions,  with  minor  amendments,  were  unanimous- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  5  I 

ly  adopted.  The  Chicago  American  of  July  25,  1840,  contains  a 
petition  to  the  Illinois  Legislature  praying  for  the  removal  from 
the  statutes  of  the  laws  known  as  the  "  Black  Code,"  which  pre- 
vented negroes  from  testifying  against  whites,  and  permitted  any 
white  man  to  have  a  black  man  who  did  not  show  his  papers  of 
liberty  thrown  into  jail. 

The  first  state  convention  ever  held  in  Chicago  was  that  of 
the  Liberal  party,  or  Abolitionists,  May  27,  1842,  to  nominate 
candidates  for  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor  and  other  state 
officers.  The  result  of  the  gubernatorial  and  congressional  elec- 
tion of  1842  in  Cook  county  was  as  follows: 

For  Governor — Joseph  Duncan,  Whig,  625  votes;  Thomas 
Ford,  Democrat,  1,328  ;  Isaac  Hunter,  Abolitionist,  37. 

For  Congress,  Fourth  District — John  Wentworth,  Demo- 
crat, 1,172  votes  ;  Giles  Spring,  Whig,  891. 

In  1844  the  Abolitionists  considered  themselves  numerous 
enough  to  make  a  showing  of  strength  and  try  to  establish  the 
nucleus  of  an  anti-slavery  party,  and  for  the  first  time  they  placed 
a  national  ticket  in  the  field.  While  at  this  date  the  record  of 
our  elections  shows  plainly  the  growth  of  the  sentiment  that 
afterward  dominated  the  government  and  became  of  world-wide 
consequence,  neither  the  Democrats  or  the  Whigs  paid  any  atten- 
tion to  the  insignificant  handful  of  voters  who  thus  early  became 
pioneers  in  the  course  they  believed  to  be  right.  An  Abolition- 
ist was  considered  to  be  tainted  with  a  mild  species  of  lunacy, 
and  was  tolerated  by  the  indifferent,  and  despised  by  the  sup- 
porters of  the  slave  power.  Soon,  however,  they  had  awakened 
public  sentiment  sufficiently  to  make  themselves  hated  and  feared 
by  the  organized  power  they  persistently  antagonized.  More 
unpopular  by  far  was  the  Abolitionist  of  1848-58  than  the  Prohi- 
bitionist of  to-day,  and  the  humble  Mugmump,  now  pilloried, 
ridiculed  and  execrated,  leads  a  charmed  political  existence,  full 
of  ease  and  contentment,  beside  that  of  the  hated  Abolitionist 
who  byword  or  pen,  or  suspected  secresy,  opposed  the  monstrous 
iniquity  of  slavery. 

The  election  of  November  4,  1844,  in  Chicago  and  Cook 
county  resulted  as  follows  : 

Cook  County. — For  President — James  K.  Polk,  Democrat, 
2,027  votes;  Henry  Clay,  Whig,  1,117;  James  G.  Birney,  Abo- 
litionist, 317. 

City  of  Chicago. — Polk,  136;  Clay,  850;  Birney,  209.  The 
popular  refrain  of  the  Whigs  in  this  campaign  was  : 


52  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Oh,  oh!  the  country's  risln' 

For  Henry  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen. 

The  result  of  the  election,  however,  showed  that  the  Clay 
party  had  been  too  sanguine  of  the  country's  condition.  The 
splendid  record  and  brilliant  qualities  of  "Harry"  Clay  had 
made  him  popular  in  Chicago  as  elsewhere,  as  evinced  by  the 
fact  that  he  received  more  than  double  the  number  of  votes 
polled  for  both  of  the  other  candidates.  The  news  of  the  result 
of  this  election  was  brought  to  Chicago  by  stage,  as  a  special 
"way-bill"  accompanying  the  letter  sack,  and  addressed  to  Ellis 
&  Fergus,  publishers  of  the  Democratic  Advocate,  and  it  was  two 
weeks  before  the  voters  knew  how  extremely  close  New  York 
state  had  been.  The  election  of  Polk  and  Dallas  was  duly  cele- 
brated by  the  Democrats,  who  built  bonfires  in  the  courthouse 
square  and  indulged  in  extemporaneous  oratory. 

The  municipal  elections  from  1837  to  1842  were  conducted 
in  the  main  upon  the  basis  of  selecting  the  best  men  for  Mayor 
and  Aldermen  to  supervise  and  provide  for  the  necessities  of  the 
growing  city,  and  while  always  taking  on  a  decided  political  cast, 
were  devoid  of  local  excitements  of  sufficient  importance  to 
be  chronicled  here.  Following  William  B.  Ogden  there  were 
two  Whig  Mayors  in  succession,  Buckner  S.  Morris  and  Benja- 
min W.  Raymond.  Seven  Democratic  Mayors  in  succession 
were  then  elected  before  a  Whig  again  filled  the  office,  John  P. 
Chapin  in  1846,  and  he  again  was  followed  by  eight  Democratic 
Mayors  in  succession,  until  in  1855  Dr.  Levi  D.  Boone,  formerly 
a  Democrat,  was  elected  upon  the  American  or  Know-Nothing 
ticket. 

Buckner  S.  Morris,  the  second  Mayor  of  Chicago,  who  was 
elected  by  the  Whigs  March  6,  1838,  was  a  lawyer  by  profession 
and  a  thorough  business  man,  who  in  the  main  carried  out  Mayor 
Ogden's  ideas  and  plans  in  respect  to  the  government  of  the 
city.  He  was  born  August  19,  1800,  and  came  to  Chicago  in 
1834.  He  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Kentucky  in  1827, 
and  had  served  two  terms  in  the  State  Legislature  prior  to  his 
arrival  here.  He  speedily  opened  a  law  office,  and  August  7 
entered  into  partnership  with  E.  W.  Casey.  In  the  fall  of  1836 
this  association  was  dissolved,  and  he  then,  on  December  5,  1836, 
entered  into  partnership  with  J.  Y.  Scammon.  June  19,  1835,  he 
was  made  a  member  of  the  first  permanent  Board  of  Health  of 
the  city.  He  was  elected  Alderman  of  the  Sixth  Ward  in  1839  I 
was  elected  to  the  same  position   from  the  same  ward  in  1844, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  53 

but  resigned.  He  was  an  early  director  and  president  of  the  old 
hydraulic  company,  the  avant  courier  of  the  waterworks.  On 
October  15,  1842,  he  was  commissioned  Adjutant  of  the  Sixtieth 
Regiment  Illinois  Militia  (of  which  John  Baptiste  Beaubien  was 
Colonel),  to  date  April  14,  1842.  In  1852  he  was  defeated  as  a 
Whig  candidate  for  Secretary  of  State  of  Illinois.  On  May  24, 
1853,  he  was  commissioned  Circuit  Judge,  having  been  elected 
to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Judge  Hugh  T. 
Dickey.  Before  him  the  Green  uxoricide  case  was  tried,  memor- 
able as  being  the  first  case  in  the  state  wherein  the  testimony  of 
scientific  experts  was  allowed  on  the  witness  stand.  In  1855  he 
was  tendered  a  renomination,  which  he  declined.  He  then 
formed  various  law  partnerships,  and  in  i860  was  a  defeated  can- 
didate for  Governor.  In  1864  he  and  Mrs.  Morris  were  arrested 
upon  an  unfounded  charge  of  disloyalty  in  connection  with  the 
Camp  Douglas  conspiracy.  In  the  early  part  of  1865  Judge 
Morris  discontinued  his  legal  practice  and  attended  to  his  large 
real  estate  interests.  He  died  on  December  16,  1879,  anc^  was 
buried  from  St.  Mary's  Catholic  church,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morris 
having  become  converts  to  that  communion  after  their  enforced 
sequestration. 

Benjamin  W.  Raymond,  the  third  Mayor  of.  Chicago,  was 
elected  March  5,  1839,  and  again  March  7,  1842,  the  first  time  as 
a  Whig  and  the  second  time  as  a  Democrat,  the  last  time  much 
against  his  will.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1836  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  S.  N.  Dexter  in  a  grocery  and  general  store. 
He  was  a  Director  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad,  the 
ancestor  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  ;  a  Director  of  the  old 
Hydraulic  Company  ;  an  early  member  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society;  an  incorporator  of  Rose  Hill  Cemetery  Company  ;  laid 
out  the  suburb  of  Lake  Forest,  helped  found  the  university  there, 
and  was  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  twelve  years. 
He  was  a  professing  Christian  and  a  strict  temperance  man,  and 
made  a  popular  candidate  and  able  executive  head  of  the  city. 
He  was  born  in  Rome,  New  York,  1801,  and  received  a  good 
common  school  education.  During  his  first  term  there  was  an 
exciting  contest  between  the  North  and  South  divisions  concern- 
ing a  bridge  over  the  Chicago  river.  The  bridge  had  been  swept 
away  at  Dearborn  street,  and  the  people  of  the  South  side  were 
opposed  to  its  being  replaced.  There  were  jealousies  existing  at 
the  time  between  the  divisions,  and  the  contest  was  waged  with 
much  bitterness.  The  Council  was  evenly  divided,  and  Mayor 
Raymond,  who  held  the  casting  vote,  was  a  South  sider.   Finally 


54  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

he  decided  if  the  North  siders  would  subscribe  $3,000  toward  the 
erection  of  the  bridge  they  should  have  it,  and  this  being  agreed 
to  he  gave  the  casting  vote  in  favor  of  the  bridge.  It  was  dur- 
ing his  term  of  office  that  the  canal  scrip  was  largely  counter- 
feited, and  Mr.  Raymond  was  exceedingly  active  in  putting  a 
stop  to  it.  Several  persons  were  arrested,  and  two  were  con- 
victed. When  the  state  ceased  work  on  the  canal  many  laborers 
were  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  in  their  distress  Mayor 
Raymond  came  to  their  relief  by  donating  the  entire  salary  he 
had  received  as  Mayor.  During  his  term  of  office  the  Fort 
Dearborn  reservation  was  laid  out  in  town  lots  and  sold.  It  had 
been  expected  by  the  people  that  the  land  would  be  donated  by 
the  government  to  the  city,  but  the  order  went  out  for  the  sale 
of  Fort  Dearborn  addition.  Through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Ray- 
mond Dearborn  Park  was  reserved  to  the  city,  and  State  street 
was  laid  out  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  wide  instead  of  sixty 
feet. 

Alexander  Lloyd,  the  fourth  Mayor  of  Chicago,  was  a  Dem- 
ocrat. He  was  elected  March  3,  1840,  and  served  his  term  ac- 
ceptably to  the  people.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years  engaged 
in  business  as  a  builder  and  contractor,  and  was  also  the  owner 
of  a  lumber  yard  and  proprietor  of  a  grocery  store.  The  store 
was  conducted  as  late  as  1857,  under  the  firm  name  of  Lloyd  & 
Thomas.  Mr.  Lloyd  was  a  man  of  the  strictest  probity,  and  his 
uprightness  of  character  gave  him  the  confidence  of  the  people. 

Francis  C.  Sherman,  the  fifth  Mayor  of  Chicago,  was  a  Dem- 
ocrat, and  was  elected  March  5,  1841.  He  was  one  of  the  pio- 
neers, having  reached  Chicago  from  Connecticut  in  1834.  He 
was  a  merchant  by  pursuit  and  was  also  a  building  contractor, 
and  was  interested  in  brick  making  at  a  later  date.  Mr.  Sher- 
man was  elected  Alderman  of  the  first  ward,  on  the  charter  elec- 
tion ticket,  in  1837  ;  was  elected  and  served  as  a  County  Com- 
missioner from  1840  to  1845;  was  elected  to  and  made  chairman 
of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  in  1851,  and  April  15,  1862,  was  again 
elected  to  the  Mayoralty  and  served  three  successive  terms.  His 
first  inaugural  message  to  the  Council  was  as  follows  : 

"It  having  been  customary  for  my  predecessors  in  office  to 
give  some  expression  of  their  sentiments  in  entering  upon  their 
municipal  duties,  it  would  hardly  be  taken  as  an  excuse  that  no 
portion  of  my  life  has  been  devoted  to  those  studies  and  pursuits, 
which  qualify  me  for  addressing  the  public.  My  only  faults,  I 
hope,  will  be  those  arising  from  inexperience  and  errors  of  judg- 
ment, for  I  can  assure  you  that   I  need  but  know  the  right  to 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  55 

diligently  pursue  it.  Having  been  elected  to  office  on  the 
strength  of  certain  fixed  political  principles,  it  would  savor  of 
hypocrisy  or  demagogism  for  me  to  say  that  in  my  official  ca- 
pacity I  shall  know  no  distinction  between  parties,  but  on  the 
contrary,  it  will  be  my  constant  study  to  prove  that  the  princi- 
ples which  have  so  recently  triumphed  in  our  city,  naturally  tend 
to  peace  and  good  order,  and  to  the  honor  and  profit  of  our 
corporation.  And,  gentlemen  of  the  council,  in  such  a  course 
of  conduct,  I  shall  rely  upon  your  ready  concurrence  and  hearty 
co-operation,  hoping  frequently  to  profit  by  your  longer  exper- 
ience and  superior  knowledge.  The  task  which  we  have  under- 
taken is  an  arduous  one.  The  financial  affairs  of  our  city  are 
considerably  embarrassed,  and  the  conflicting  claims  of  individuals 
seeking  important  offices  are  to  be  decided  upon.  By  studying 
economy,  then,  in  our  expenses,  and  the  strictest  moral  rectitude, 
as  well  as  the  best  talents  in  our  officers,  shall  we  best  merit 
public  approbation  ;  which,  though  often  late,  is  always  sure." 

In  1842  Benjamin  W.  Raymond's  name  was  again  used  in 
connection  with  the  Mayoralty,  and  while  he  did  not  desire  the 
office  he  consented  to  the  use  of  his  name.  The  Democrats  had 
a  family  quarrel  on  hand  which,  it  was  represented  to  Mr.  Ray- 
mond, could  be  settled  more  satisfactorily  by  his^election  than 
in  any  other  manner.  Eli  B.  Williams  and  Augustus  Garrett 
were  the  rival  Democratic  candidates.  In  the  convention  which 
was  held  in  the  Planter's  Hotel,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Ran- 
dolph and  Wells  streets,  an  effort  was  made  to  maintain  harmony 
by  pledging  all  of  the  delegates  to  vote  for  Williams  before  the 
convention  proceeded  to  ballot.  This  well-meant  endeavor  came 
to  naught  by  the  perverseness  or  loyalty  of  one  delegate,  Rob- 
inson Tripp  by  name,  who  refused  to  go  into  the  arrangement. 
Augustus  Garrett  received  the  nomination  and  made  a  good  fight, 
but  when  Mr.  Raymond  was  induced  to  run,  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Williams  went  over  to  him  and  thereby  made  his  election  certain. 
Augustus  Garrett  was  elected  Mayor  the  year  following,  how- 
ever, and  again  in  1845.  ^n  ms  inaugural  message  following  his 
second  election  Mayor  Raymond  said : 

"The  receipts  during  the  past  year  have  exceeded  the  ex- 
penditures some  $3,000,  thereby  reducing  the  liabilities  of  the 
city  from  $15,395  to  $12,233.  As  a  decrease  of  business  and 
prosperity  may  be  expected  during  the  coming  year,  there  should 
be  the  most  rigid  economy  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of 
the  city.  Men  of  tried  integrity  should  be  placed  in  office,  and 
salaries  should  be  reduced.     The  bridge  at  Clark  street  is  meet- 


56  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

ing  with  favor  from  many,  and  though  some  would  have  preferred 
to  have  placed  it  at  the  foot  of  Dearborn  street,  no  change  should 
now  be  made  in  its  location.  I  would  suggest  the  foundation  of 
Hook  and  Ladder  Company  No.  2,  as  the  construction  of  houses 
is  such  that  Hook  and  Ladder  companies  can  do  more  good  than 
engines.  Our  public  schools  are  somewhat  crowded,  over  400 
pupils  being  now  in  attendance.  A  small  tax  should  be  laid  if 
they  are  to  be  properly  maintained,  and  new  schools  should  be 
opened." 

Mr.  Raymond  was  one  of  the  first  directors  of  the  Chicago 
&  Galena  Union  Railroad,  and  was  active  in  advancing  the  edu- 
cational interests  of  the  West.  He  laid  out  the  town  of  Lake 
Forest  and  was  mainly  instrumental  in  founding  the  university 
there,  being  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  institution 
for  twelve  years.  He  was  also  one  of  the  Trustees  of  Beloit 
College  and  of  the  Rockford  Female  Seminary.  He  built  the 
first  woolen  mill  at  Elgin,  and  in  1864  founded  the  watch  manu- 
factory there,  and  was  the  first  President  of  the  company.  He 
departed  this  life  April  6,  1883,  having  seen  the  city  of  his  choice 
and  pride  fulfill  every  hope  he  entertained  of  its  great  destiny. 

Augustus  Garrett,  the  seventh  Mayor  of  Chicago,  was 
elected  for  his  first  term  March  7,  1843,  as  a  Democrat.  He  was 
another  one  of  the  pioneer  business  men  of  the  city,  and  was 
noted  for  his  liberality  and  public  spirit.  He  was  born  in  New 
York,  and  had  been  a  successful  auctioneer  in  Cincinnati  and 
New  Orleans.  He  met  with  financial  reverses,  however,  and 
when  he  reached  Chicago  he  was  bankrupt.  The  Rev.  Jeremiah 
Porter  and  the  people  of  his  church  interested  themselves  in  Mr. 
Garrett,  and  he  was  soon  in  easy  financial  circumstances.  He 
sent  for  his  wife,  whom  he  had  been  obliged  to  leave  at  the  home 
of  her  parents  in  New  York,  and  both  became  permanent  resi- 
dents here.  Under  the  ministration  of  the  Rev.  Peter  R.  Borein 
they  were  converted  and  joined  the  Methodist  church  in  1839. 
In  1840  Mr.  Garrett  was  elected  Alderman,  and  his  business  and 
executive  ability  were  so  apparent  that  the  Democrats  made  him 
their  candidate  for  Mayor  upon  the  expiration  of  his  term  in  the 
council.  He  died  in  December,  1848.  In  1853  his  widow  be- 
queathed the  greater  portion  of  her  husband's  large  estate  to  the 
Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  and  two  years  later,  in  November,  1855, 
she  departed  this  life. 

In  his  inaugural  message  of  1843,  Mayor  Garrett  gives  a 
good  idea  of  the  condition  of  the  affairs  of  the  city  at  that  time. 
In  the  first  place  he  proposed  a  reduction  of  city  taxes,  and  rec- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  57 

ommended  reform  and  retrenchment  in  the  direction  of  econo- 
mizing in  public  expenditures,  and  suggested  that  salaries  be 
fixed  at  a  more  moderate  rate.  The  City  Clerk  should  not  be 
paid  more  than  $400  ;  the  holders  of  the  principal  of  the  city  debt 
should  be  asked  to  defer  pressing  for  the  payment  of  the  same ; 
music  should  not  be  taught  in  the  public  schools  ;  great  care 
should  be  taken  in  the  selection  of  appraisers  of  school  lands ; 
measures  should  be  taken  as  soon  as  the  weather  would  permit 
to  inclose  a  new  burying  ground  ;  great  care  should  be  taken  in 
passing  ordinances  not  to  adopt  any  that  would  operate  oppres- 
sively on  any  one  class  of  citizens.  Mayor  Garrett  hoped  the 
Sabbath  would  be  better  observed  than  had  been  customary. 
There  had  been  great  improvement  with  respect  to  temperance, 
owing  to  the  formation  of  the  Catholic  Temperance  and  Wash- 
ington Temperance  Societies.  The  great  scarcity  of  money  was 
dwelt  upon,  and  the  Abolitionists  and  their  "Underground  Rail- 
way" came  in  for  the  following  notice  : 

"It  has  been  intimated  that  a  combination  has  been  entered 
into  here  and  at  some  point  on  the  Mississippi  river,  for  the 
transfer  of  slaves  from  a  sister  state  into  Illinois,  and  from  rumors 
of  this  kind  existing  abroad,  serious  injury  may  be  done  to  the 
character  of  our  city,  and  as  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  no  right  ex- 
ists for  such  interference,  I  deem  it  a  duty  to  recommend  our 
citizens  to  take  all  legal  and  honorable  means  to  suppress  any- 
thing of  the  kind,  that  may  operate  abroad  so  injuriously  to  our 
reputation." 

March  7,  1844,  the  eighth  city  election  occurred,  and  Alson 
S.  Sherman,  a  prominent  citizen,  received  a  majority  of  the  votes. 
A  question  was  raised,  however,  as  to  the  legality  of  his  election, 
one  of  the  judges  of  election  never  having  been  naturalized.  The 
courts  decided  the  election  invalid,  and  a  special  election  was 
ordered.  During  the  interval  Mayor  Garrett  held  over.  At  the 
second  election  Alson  S.  Sherman  was  elected  by  an  increased 
majority.  Mr.  Sherman  was  born  in  Barre,  Vt.,  April  21,  181 1, 
and  he  came  to  Chicago  in  November,  1836.  His  business  was 
that  of  a  contractor  and  builder,  and  from  1845  to  1855  he  was 
engaged  in  the  marble,  stone  and  milling  business.  Mr.  Sher- 
man was  an  active  man,  of  great  public  spirit,  and  he  was  fre- 
quently called  upon  to  take  part  in  local  politics.  Besides  filling 
the  Mayor's  chair  he  served  one  term  as  Chief  Engineer  of  the 
fire  department,  two  terms  as  Alderman,  ten  years  on  the  Board 
of  Water  Commissioners,  and  was  a  City  School  Trustee  for  a 
number  of  years.     His  residence  in  late  years  was  at  Waukegan. 


58  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Augustus  Garrett  was  again  elected  Mayor  at  the  ninth  city- 
election,  March  5,  1845.  ^n  ms  inaugural  message  published  in 
the  Weekly  Democrat,  March  12,  1845,  it  was  stated  that  much 
of  the  city's  money  had  been  injudiciously  expended,  especially 
the  $2,918.40  expended  in  endeavoring  to  protect  the  lake  shore 
from  the  action  of  the  water.  "  Most  of  this  large  sum  might  as 
well  have  been  expended  in  purchasing  salt  and  throwing  it  into 
the  lake,"  continues  the  message.  Another  great  source  of  ex- 
penditure had  accrued  in  the  erection  of  a  large  building  in  the 
First  Ward,  intended  to  be  occupied  as  a  schoolhouse,  which  it 
was  supposed  would  accommodate  one  thousand  children.  Mayor 
Garrett  advised  that  this  building  be  sold  ;  and  the  money  which 
it  would  bring,  $6,000,  be  expended  in  the  erection  of  four  smaller 
schoolhouses.  The  management  of  the  school  fund  was  extolled 
and  the  message  suggested  that  the  available  portion  of  it,  some 
$2,500,  be  borrowed  by  the  city,  and  with  that  and  other  funds 
payment  might  be  made  of  money  borrowed  from  Strachan  & 
Scott,  which  was  bearing  9  per  cent,  interest,  and  which  if  not 
paid  on  maturity,  would  bear  12  per  cent,  interest.  The  message 
continued : 

"Leases  of  wharfing  privileges  may  be  a  source  of  legal 
trouble,  and  action  upon  them  should  be  deferred  until  the 
canal  is  completed.  The  planking  of  Lake  street,  which  was 
commenced  last  year,  should  be  completed  at  the  expense  of 
those  owning  lots  on  that  street. 

"It  appears  by  the  recent  election  that  there  are  more  than 
2,000  voters  in  this  city,  and  the  street  tax  will  consequently  be 
over  $6,000.  Allowing  one  half  to  be  collectable,  it  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  make  the  requisite  repairs  upon  our  streets  during  the 
year.  Our  street  expenses  should  be  confined  strictly  within  the 
receipts  of  that  tax.  *  *  *  There  are  moneys  due  from  some 
of  the  city's  former  officers  amounting  to  $924.33.  I  most 
earnestly  call  on  the  Council  to  take  immediate  measures  to 
enforce  the  collection  of  the  whole  of  these  moneys  from  the  late 
officers  or  their  sureties. 

"I  perceive  that  in  the  aggregate  $41 1.93  have  been  paid  the 
last  year  for  city  printing.  This  is  indeed  a  large  sum,  and  in 
order  that  we  may  not  hereafter  pay  a  higher  price  than  necessary, 
I  would  recommend  that  measures  be  taken  to  let  the  printing 
to  the  lowest  bidder.  There  are  a  large  number  of  printing 
establishments  in  our  city,  and  with  such  competition  as  would 
naturally  arise,  we  may  reasonably  expect  to  procure  the  work 
to  be  done  at  its  real  worth." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  59 

John  P.  Chapin,  tenth  Mayor  of  Chicago,  was  elected  over 
Charles  Follansbee  March  3,  1846.  He  was  the  first  Whig  to 
fill  the  office  since  1839.  Mr.  Follansbee  was  defeated  by  the 
Irish  Democrats,  who  bolted  his  nomination  for  the  reason  that 
he  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  "Native  American"  petition, 
which  favored  the  enactment  of  a  law  requiring  twenty-one  years' 
residence  in  the  United  States  of  all  foreigners  before  they 
should  be  entitled  to  naturalization  as  citizens.  Mayor  Chapin's 
administration,  and  that  of  his  successor,  Mayor  Curtiss,  was  un- 
marked by  measures  or  happenings  of  any  great  consequence  to 
the  city,  although  both  Mayors  were  popular  men,  and  their  ad- 
ministration of  office  satisfactory  to  the  people. 

Mr.  Chapin  was  elected  Alderman  of  the  First  Ward  in 
1844.  He  was  in  no  sense  a  politician,  but  was  well  known  as 
an  enterprising  man  of  business.  For  many  years  he  was  a  for- 
warding and  commission  merchant,  having  for  some  time  con- 
ducted the  business  alone,  and  later  becoming  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Wadsworth,  Dyer  &  Chapin,  engaged  in  the  packing 
business,  and  owning  a  large  packing  house  on  the  south  branch 
of  the  Chicago  river. 

The  Democrats  reunited  in  1847,  anc^  March  2  of  that  year 
elected  James  Curtiss  as  the  eleventh  Mayor  of  Chicago.  Mr. 
Curtiss  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  a  native  of  New  York  state, 
who  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1835.  He  was  an  able  practitioner  at 
the  bar,  and  likewise  an  active  politician.  He  became  Clerk  of 
the  County  Court,  States  Attorney,  and  served  two  terms  as 
Alderman  in  the  Council,  and  was  twice  elected  to  the  Mayor- 
alty, the  last  time  March  5,  1850. 

At  the  expiration  of  Mayor  Chapin's  term  in  1847  Chicago 
had  become  a  bustling  little  city  of  16,859  inhabitants.  February 
16  the  City  Council  by  ordinance  increased  the  number  of  wards 
from  six  to  nine,  and  the  city  limits  were  extended  southward  to 
Twenty-second  street,  westward  to  Western  avenue,  and  north- 
ward to  Sedgwick  street  and  Fullerton  avenue.  Subsequently 
two  more  wards  were  added,  making  eleven  wards  altogether  at 
the  close  of  Mayor  Woodworth's  first  term. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  RIVER  AND  HARBOR  CONVENTION POPULATION  184OTO  I  846 

THE    CAMPAIGN    OF     '48 — ZEBINA    EASTMAN,     HOOPER     WARREN 

AND  DR.  C.   V.   DYER INCIDENTS    OF    SLAVERY THE    FREE  SOIL 

PARTY    ORGANIZED THE     ELECTION WENTWORTH     VS.     SCAM- 

MON THE     NEW     CONSTITUTION THE     NEGRO     CLAUSE CITY 

ELECTION SLAVERY  IN    THE  COMMON    COUNCIL CAMPAIGN  OF 

1852 FORMATION      OF     THE      REPUBLICAN     PARTY THE     FRE- 
MONT CAMPAIGN. 

Chicago  was  the  scene  in  July,  1847,  of  a  notable  gathering 
in  the  interest  of  commerce.  It  was  the  "  Peoples',"  or  River 
and  Harbor  Convention,  which  continued  over  July  5,  6  and  7. 
More  than  20,000  strangers  were  in  the  city,  10,000  of  whom 
were  delegates  to  the  convention.  Horace  Greeley  reported  the 
proceedings  in  editorial  correspondence  to  the  New  York 
Tribune,  and  Thurlow  Weed  to  the  Albany  Evening  Journal. 
Under  date  of  July  5,  4  p.  m.,  Mr.  Greeley  wrote  : 

"  Chicago  has  been  filling  up  with  delegates  to  the  People's 
Convention  for  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  days,  but  it  was  not  until 
Saturday  that  the  pressure  became  burdensome.  When  we  ar- 
rived on  the  Oregon,  at  sunrise  yesterday  morning,  there  was 
scarcely  a  spare  inch  of  room  in  any  public  house  save  in  a  few 
bedrooms  long  since  bespoken.  But  the  citizens  had  already 
thrown  open  their  dwellings,  welcoming  strangers  in  thousands 
to  their  cordial  and  bounteous  hospitality  ;  the  steamboats,  as 
they  came  in,  proffered  their  spacious  accommodations  and  gen- 
erous fare  to  their  passengers  during  their  stay  ;  and  though  four 
or  five  boats  full  freighted  came  in  yesterday,  and  two  more,  with 
a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  each,  came  in  this  morning,  I  be- 
lieve there  are  none  left  in  doubt  as  to  their  chance  of  shelter  to- 
night at  this  present  writing.  At  all  events,  the  people  of  Chi- 
cago have  earned  a  noble  reputation  for  hospitality  and  public 
spirit. 

"  The  grand  parade  took  place  this  morning,  and.  though  the 
route  traversed  was  short,  in  deference  to  the  heat  of  the 
weather,  the   spectacle  was  truly  magnificent.     The   citizens   of 

(60) 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS. 


61 


Chicago,  of  course,  furnished  the  most  imposing  part  of  it — the 
music,  the  military,  the  ships  on  wheels,  ornamented  fire  engines, 
etc.  I  never  witnessed  anything  so  superb  as  the  appear- 
ance of  some  of  the  fire  companies  with  their  engines  drawn  by 
led  horses,  tastefully  caparisoned.  Our  New  York  firemen  must 
try  again  ;  they  have  certainly  been  outdone."* 

One  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  convention  depre- 
cated the  association  of  questions  of  internal  improvements  with 
party  politics,  and  with  this  Mr.  Greeley  did  not  agree.  The 
convention  was  the  most  important  factor  that  ever  occurred  to 
demonstrate  the  natural  facilities  of  Chicago  as  a  shipping  cen- 
ter, to  call  attention  to  her  superb  geographical  position,  and  to 
enlist  potent  interest  in  the  advancement  of  her  material  welfare. 
Preliminary  meetings  were  held  in  New  York  and  Chicago.  The 
call  for  the  convention  was  signed  by  John  Wentworth,  George 
Manierre,  J.  Young  Scammon,  Isaac  N.  Arnold  and  Grant  Good- 
rich. It  adjourned  sine  die  July  7,  after  having  done  more  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  Chicago  than,  probably,  any  other  assem- 
blage of  representative  citizens  accomplished  at  any  time. 
Every  person  present,  both  in  speeches  in  the  Convention  and 
in  personal  converse  with  each  other,  evinced  the  utmost  con- 
fidence in  the  future  of  Chicago,  and  many  delegates  showed 
their  faith  by  purchasing  real  estate  here. 

December  1,  1847,  the  Hon.  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  appointed  to 
report  certain  statistics  in  relation  to  the  population,  etc.,  of 
Chicago  to  a  select  committee  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
River  and  Harbor  Convention,  made  a  report  in  which  the 
population  of  the  city  and  of  each  ward  in  1840,  1843,  and  1845, 
and  the  increase  of  each  period,  and  the  total  increase,  were  given 
as  follows  : 


1840 

1843. 

Increase 

1845- 

Increase 

Total. 

First  Ward 

1,197 

1,467 

2  Si 

179 

439 

1,323 

1,986 

2,231 

5^9 

414 

6co 

1,840 

7S9 
764 
258 
235 
164 

517 

3,238 
3,460 
1,009 
830 
1,052 
2,499 

1,252 

1,229 

500 

416 

452 
659 

2,041 

1,993 

Third  Ward 

7s8 

Fourth  Ward 

651 

Filth   Ward 

616 

Sixth  Ward 

1,176 

Total 

4,8.S3 

7,533 

2,727 

i2,oS8 

4,508 

7,235 

*The  full  proceedings  of  this  important  convention  are  given  in  a  pamphlet  printed  by 
Robert  Fergus,  Chicago,  18S2. 


62 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


Population  of  the  City  of  Chicago  and  the  several  precincts  in  Cook  county  in  1S45;  show- 
ing the  number  subject  to  military  duty,  the  value  of  live  stock,  and  the  amount  of 
grain  and  the  number  of  pounds  of  wool  produced: 


COOK  COUNTY. 


Precincts. 


Chicago  City 
Chicago.. 

Athens 

Blue  Island., 

York 

Monroe 

Lake 

Lyons 

Summit 

Desplaines. . . 
Gross  Point. 

Hanover 

Harrington. . 
Bridgeport . . 
Thornton.  .. 
Salt  Creek... 


Toial  Citv  and  Countv. 


[2,0SS 

575 
593 
234 
3+6 
7S6 
699 

554 
619 

999 

738 
710 
594 
449 
546 
i,o73 


21,581 


3,°37 
160 

i25 
49 
73 
200 
141 
164 
299 
276 
204 
170 
11S 

147 
109 
26S 


$44,S34 
i,354 
8,695 
8,735 
10043 
18,62  s 
I.V56 
10,  -'90 
3<37o 
18,295 
8,670 
23,240 
15.405 
6,999 
12,940 
24  975 


5,54°     241,793 


4.5S3 
2,062 
5, 20 1 
11,365 
n,497 
7.5i8 

4,755 
1,670 

19.155 

6-335 
28,130 
25,263 
Sco 
",55° 
24.731 


<'■= 


i)    O 


'64,835 


$9,000 

3, '34 
1,094 

8i5 
2,651 
4,47i 
2,473 

985 

6ro 
6,080 
3,893 
3,oi9 
1,910 

960 
1,915 
0,045 


42,04s 


33 

10,728 

524 

324 

659 

3,600 

i,59S 
150 

2,402 
769 

1,423 
4,204 


56,414 


The  total  population  of  the  city,  according  to  the  census  of  1S46,  was  that  year  14,199. 
The  census  of  this  year,  just  completed,  gives  us  on  the  first  day  of  September,  1847,  in 
round  numbers,  17,000. 

The  approach  of  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1848  was 
marked  by  a  steadily  growing  interest  in  the  slavery  question. 
There  was  every  evidence  that  a  split  in  the  Democratic  party 
over  the  slavery  issue  was  imminent.  The  followers  of  Martin 
Van  Buren  in  the  East  were  anxious  for  an  opportunity  to  avenge 
the  wrong  done  their  chief  in  1844,  and  the  members  of  the 
Liberty  party  were  not  unwilling  to  join  hands  with  the  Anti- 
slavery,  Whigs,  and  Democrats  of  the  North,  if  a  satisfactory 
and  honorable  basis  of  action  could  be  devised.  This  condition 
of  affairs  resulted  in  the  call  for  the  National  Free  Soil  Conven- 
tion at  Buffalo,  on  the  9th  ot  August,  1848.  The  history  of  the 
Abolition  movement;  the  "Black  Law"  agitation,  and  the  many 
momentous  issues  involved  in  the  Free  Soil  movement  of  1848; 
the  later  debates  between  Douglas  and  Lincoln,  are  themes  of 
national  history  that  have  all  been  dwelt  upon  at  length  by  able 
writers  who  have  traced  them  up  to  and  through  the  great  war 
of  the  rebellion.  In  all  of  these  movements  Chicago  and  her 
citizens  played  a  prominent  and  important  part.     Zebina  East- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  63 

man,  who  in  1842  established  in  Chicago  the  Western  Citizen, 
and  Hooper  Warren,  the  noted  Abolitionist,  and  publisher  of 
the  Commercial  Advertiser,  were  the  leading  spirits  in  every 
movement  in  behalf  of  freedom  for  the  slaves.  Zebina  Eastman 
established  his  paper  here  in  response  to  the  earnest  request  of 
James  H.  Collins,  Dr.  C.  V.  Dyer,  Calvin  DeWolf,  S.  D.  Childs, 
H.  L.  Fulton,  L.  C.  P.  Freer,  N.  Rossiter,  the  Rev.  Flavel  Bas- 
com,  J.  Johnston,  and  other  early  Abolitionists,  who  had,  since 
the  murder  of  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  at  Alton,  in  1837,  continued  to 
antagonize  the  pro-slavery  men,  and  it  was  owing  to  threats  of 
the  latter  that  no  Abolition  organ  should  be  established  in  Chi- 
cago that  they  decided  upon  bringing  Zebina  Eastman  to  the 
city.  Eastman  had  been  the  assistant  to  Benjamin  Lundy, 
publisher  of  the  "Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,"  at  Lowell, 
LaSalle  county,  and  had  upon  the  death  of  Lundy  continued  the 
paper  as  the  "Genius  of  Liberty."  In  1853  the  name  of  the 
"Western  Citizen"  was  changed  to  the  "Free  West,"  and  its  pub- 
lication was  continued  for  some  years  thereafter.  One  of  the 
many  deserving  colored  men  befriended  by  Zebina  Eastman  was 
John  Jones,  whom  he  taught  to  read,  and  who  afterward  spoke 
and  wrote  in  behalf  of  the  enfranchisement  of  his  race.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  colored  men  in  the  state  to  be  elected  to  an  office, 
having  been  twice  elected  a  County  Commissioner,  and  serving 
in  the  same  body  of  which  Carter  H.  Harrison,  one  of  our  later 
Mayors,  was  a  member.  It  is  related  that  John  Brown  was  often 
a  visitor  at  John  Jones'  house,  the  last  time  when  on  his  way  to 
Harper's  Ferry,  on  which  occasion  he  advised  Mr.  Jones  to  lay 
in  a  stock  of  cotton,  sugar  and  tobacco,  for  he  was  going  to 
"  raise  their  price."  Mr.  Jones  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in 
1816,  and  came  to  Chicago  in  the  latter  part  of  1841.  Mr.  Jones 
died  in  1879,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  child,  and  an  estate 
amounting  to  $70,000. 

The  Chicago  Democrat  and  the  Commercial  Advertiser  fre- 
quently contained  advertisements  offering  rewards  for  the  cap- 
ture of  runaway  slaves.  The  famous  "Underground  Railroad" 
had  many  branches  centering  in  Chicago,  and  Zebina  Eastman 
sent  the  first  passenger  over  this  road  through  Chicago  to  lib- 
erty in  Canada.  The  last  slavery  disturbance  in  Chicago  is  re- 
lated by  Mr.  Eastman  to  have  occurred  in  1845-6,  when  a  negro 
was  seized  by  Henry  Rhines,  a  "nigger  hunter,"  and  was  rescued 
by  citizens  from  the  office  of  Justice  L.  C.  Kerchival,  where  he 
was  on  trial.  The  crowd  of  sympathizers  was  so  dense  in  the 
little  box  of  an  office  in  a  frame  building  on  Clark  street,  and 


64  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

upon  the  stairs,  that  they  picked  the  negro  up  and  rolled  him 
over  their  heads  to  the  street  below,  and  at  the  same  time  pressed 
so  closely  upon  Rhines  that  he  could  not  use  his  pistol.  No 
prosecutions  followed  this  rescue,  but  a  meeting  was  called  to 
protest  against  the  assembling  of  and  "lawless  acts"  of  mobs. 
The  anti-slavery  men  gathered  and  secured  control  of  this  meet- 
ing, and  unanimously  adopted  resolutions  offered  by  J.  Young 
Scammon,  which  deprecated  all  illegal  interference  with  the  law, 
and  especially  illegal  arrests  of  people  who  had  made  Chicago 
an  asylum  from  oppression,  and  declared  that  Chicago  was  on 
the  side  of  humanity  and  bound  to  protect  legally  any  fugitive 
from  oppression. 

Dr.  Charles  Volney  Dyer  was  for  many  years  an  officer  of 
the  "  Underground  Railroad,"  and  spared  neither  time,  money 
or  personal  exertion  to  assist  in  the  enfranchisement  of  slaves. 
As  a  peculiar  and  fitting  recognition  of  his  efforts,  President 
Lincoln,  in  1863,  appointed  him  Judge  of  the  Mixed  Court  for 
the  suppression  of  the  African  Slave  Trade.  After  living  a  life 
full  of  honor  and  service  to  his  fellow-citizens,  Dr.  Dyer's  demise 
occurred  at  Lake  View,  111.,  on  April  24,  1878. 

The  Gem  of  the  Prairie  of  June  3,  1848,  contains  an  account 
of  the  kidnapping  of  Abram  Ross,  a  colored  man,  from  his  house 
on  State  street  at  1 1 :30  o'clock  at  night  by  slave  agents,  assisted 
by  a  band  of  hired  ruffians.  Ross  was  supposed  to  be  a  fugitive 
slave.  He  is  described  as  "  a  stout,  good-natured  mulatto,  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  well  known  about  the  city,  having  been  em- 
ployed for  some  time  back  in  delivering  bottled  soda  for  Dr. 
Carpenter."  The  men  burst  into  the  house,  dragged  the  occu- 
pant out  of  bed,  secured  Ross,  placed  him  in  a  buggy  and 
started  for  the  Illinois  river.  The  next  morning  several  citizens 
started  in  pursuit,  and  they  arrived  at  Peru  just  too  late  to  inter- 
cept the  kidnappers,  who  had  taken  a  boat  for  St.  Louis  with 
their  captive.  That  night,  while  between  Peru  and  Meredosia, 
Ross  succeeded  in  climbing  out  of  a  stateroom  window,  swam 
ashore,  and  twenty-one  days  after  his  capture,  June  24,  reap- 
peared in  Chicago  and  gave  an  account  of  his  adventure  to  his 
friends.  It  afterward  transpired  that  the  Chicago  ruffians  who 
assisted  in  his  capture  were  paid  in  gold  coin  which  turned  out 
to  be  counterfeit.  Ross,  by  invitation,  addressed  a  mass  meet- 
ing in  front  of  the  Court  House,  giving  an  account  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  was  kidnapped,  and  his  escape.  The  Gem  of  the 
Prairie  commented  on  this  affair  as  follows: 

"  We  have  for  some  time  been  under  the  impression  that  we 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  65 

lived  in  a  free  state,  and  that  the  man-hunter  would  not  dare — 
after  what  has  happened  here — to  track  his  prey  into  the  midst 
of  the  city.  But  we  have  not  made  sufficient  allowance  for  the 
audacity  of  these  wretches.  *  *  We  give  these  gentry  warn- 
ing !  They  now  hide  from  the  daylight.  A  committee  of  public 
safety  should  be  organized  to  ferret  them  out  in  the  darkness. 
Their  only  resource  is  brute  violence.  Let  them  bear  in  mind 
that  outraged  and  insulted  humanity  can  arm  itself  as  well  as 
they  ! " 

A  great  Free  Soil  meeting  was  held  in  the  Saloon  building 
on  the  evening  of  April  i,  1848.  On  motion  of  George  Manierre 
the  meeting  was  organized  by  calling  His  Honor,  Mayor  James 
H.  Woodworth  to  the  chair.  On  motion  of  H.  W.  Clarke,  the 
following  named  gentlemen  were  nominated  vice-presidents  : 

P.  Maxwell,  Alexander  Lloyd,  Thomas  Hoyne,  D.  Brainard, 
Henry  Brown,  F.  C.  Hagerman,  N.  B.  Judd,  Daniel  H.  Gleason, 
Capt.  Shaffer,  William  B.  Ogden,  Mark  Skinner,  A.  S.  Sherman, 
F.  C.  Sherman,  James  Carney,  William  Jones,  J.  A.  Reichart,  E. 
S.  Kimberly,  George  Manierre. 

On  motion  of  Thomas  Hoyne  the  following  named  gentle- 
men were  chosen  secretaries  : 

William  L.  Church,  A.  Huntington,  Prentis  Law,  William 
H.  Bushnell,  Asa  F.  Bradley,  Daniel  Macllroy,    H.   W.   Clarke. 

Dr.  D.  Brainard  moved  that  a  committee  of  five  be  ap- 
pointed to  draft  resolutions  explaining  the  sentiments  of  the 
meeting.  The  chair  appointed  as  such  committee  Dr.  D.  Brain- 
ard, Prentis  Law,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Samuel  Hoard,  and  S.  S.  J. 
Lowe. 

Mayor  Woodworth  addressed  the  meeting  upon  the  political 
issues  of  the  day,  and  characterized  slavery  as  a  curse  and  a  blot 
upon  our  national  escutcheon. 

Addresses  were  made  by  Norman  B.  Judd  and  Henry 
Brown,  the  latter  speaking  at  length  in  favor  of  harbor  and 
river  improvements,  and  taking  stronggrounds  against  extension 
of  slavery  into  the  territory  to  be  acquired  from  Mexico. 

The  Committee  on  Resolutions  reported  through  Dr.  Brain- 
ard a  set  of  resolutions,  thirteen  in  number,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  an  abstract  : 

1.  Resolved,  That  we  are  unalterably  hostile  to  the  further 
extension  of  slavery  ;  that  while  we  will  not  join  in  the  fanati- 
cism which  converts  a  public  misfortune  into  an  individual  crime, 
we  will  on  all  proper  occasions  declare  we  regard  slavery  as  a 
disgrace  and  blot  upon  the  good  name  of  our  country. 

5 


66  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

2.  That  in  the  establishment  of  territory  now  free,  it  should 
be  made  a  fundamental  principle  that  neither  slavery  nor  invol- 
untary servitude  shall  be  allowed,  except  as  punishment  of  crime. 

3.  Should  slavery  be  extended  over  territory  free,  it  would 
be  a  mockery  of  Republican  institutions. 

4.  Praises  the  ordinance  of  1787  and  its  author,  Thomas 
Jefferson. 

5.  Lays  down  the  proposition  that  all  slaves  taken  into 
territories  become  of  right  enfranchised. 

6.  Declares  that  in  excluding  slavery  from  free  territory 
the  Democracy  recognizes  no  new  issue. 

7.  Declares  that  the  Democracy  does  not  ask  to  make  this 
a  test  question  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  in  case  the  issue  is 
forced  upon  them  and  must  be  met,  they  will  never  turn  dough- 
face at  the  beck  of  Southern  dictation  and  prove  recreant  to 
their  convictions  of  right  and  duty. 

8.  Deprecates  the  pro-slavery  movement  of  the  South,  and 
declares  that  if  it  be  persisted  in  it  will  arouse  the  self-respect 
and  energies  of  the  Northern  free  Democracy,  who,  sacrificing 
for  the  time  their  party  predilections  to  cherished  principles, 
would  ultimately  accomplish  for  themselves  a  Cerro  Gordo 
triumph. 

The  9th  and  10th  resolutions  again  refer  to  the  ordinance 
of  1786  in  words  of  praise  ;  the  1  ith  favors  judicious  harbor  and 
river  appropriations  ;  the  12th  eulogizes  Thomas  H.  Benton,  and 
the  13th  lauds  Silas  H.  Wright. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  by  acclamation  the 
meeting  was  eloquently  addressed  by  Henry  Brown,  Isaac  N. 
Arnold,  Thomas  Hoyne,  Dr.  Brainard  and  George  Manierre. 
Before  the  meeting  adjourned  Thomas  Hoyne,  Dr.  Brainard, 
Mark  Skinner,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  E.  S.  Kimberly,  George  Ma- 
nierre and  Asa  F.  Bradley  were  appointed  a  committee  to  formu- 
late and  issue  an  address  to  the  people. 

On  the  afternoon  of  July  4,  1848,  a  meeting  indorsing  Mar- 
tin Van  Buren  as  the  Free  Soil  candidate  was  held  in  the  public 
square,  and  able  speeches  were  made  by  Dr.  Brainard,  Thomas 
Hoyne,  I.  N.  Arnold,  William  B.  Ogden  and  W.  H.  Bushnell. 

When  the  Free  Soil  party  was  organized  the  main  principle 
enunciated  in  its  platform  was  hostility  to  the  further  spread  of 
slavery,  but  this  alone  was  not  sufficient  to  commend  a  new 
party  to  the  disaffected  of  all  other  parties.  The  Liberty  party 
had  nominated  John  P.  Hale  as  its  candidate  in  1847.  The 
Southern  Democratic  slavery  party  had  nominated  Gen.  Cass  at 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  67 

Baltimore,  May  22,  1848.  The  Whig  National  Convention  met 
at  Philadelphia  June  7,  and  nominated  Gen.  Zachary  Taylor,  and 
the  friends  of  Henry  Clay  were  again  raising  the  cry  of  treach- 
ery to  their  favorite.  The  Buffalo  Free  Soil  Convention  of 
August  nominated  Martin  Van  Buren  and  Charles  Francis 
Adams  for  Vice-president,  and  already  the  campaign  cry  of  "Van 
Buren  and  Free  Soil — Adams  and  Liberty,"  was  reverberating 
throughout  the  country.  The  Democratic  ascendancy  in  Chicago 
and  Cook  county  had  remained  uninterrupted  except  in  1840, 
when  the  councils  of  the  party  were  temporarily  divided.  Now 
the  forces  of  Democracy  were  again  to  be  divided  as  between 
Gen.  Cass,  the  regular  nominee,  and  Martin  Van  Buren,  the 
choice  of  the  Northern  Democratic  Free  Soilers,  who,  in  the 
main,  took  issue  with  their  Southern  friends  over  the  admission 
of  Texas  as  a  slave  State  and  the  Wilmot  proviso.  While  Van 
Buren  carried  both  the  city  and  the  county  by  a  plurality,  and 
the  Whig  candidate,  Zachary  Taylor,  received  a  majority  over 
Gen.  Lewis  Cass,  straight  Democrat,  the  vote  of  the  latter,  added 
to  the  Democratic  vote  given  Van  Buren,  would  prove  that  the 
Democrats  were  yet  largely  in  the  majority  if  united.  The  vote 
in  Cook  county  was  as  follows  : 

Martin  Van  Buren,  Free  Soil  Democrat,  -  -  2,120  votes. 
Lewis  Cass,  Straight  Democrat,  -  -       .1,622       " 

Zachary  Taylor,   Whig,         ....     1,708       " 

CITY    OF    CHICAGO. 

Van  Buren,  -  J>543 

Cass,  ....  .     1,016 

Taylor,      -----         1,283 

Total  in  county,  5,450  ;  total  in  city,  3,842. 

The  Gem  of  the  Prairie,  which  was  practically  the  weekly 
edition  of  the  Tribune  at  this  time,  under  date  of  August  19, 
1848,  published  the  following  official  returns  of  the  Congres- 
sional vote  in  Cook  county  and  the  vote  for  county  officers,  the 
Congressional  contest  being  the  memorable  one  between  J, 
Young  Scammon  and  "Long  John"  Wentworth. 

FOR  CONGRESS. 

Wentworth.  2,183.  Scammon,  1,921 

FOR    STATE    SENATOR. 

Norman   B.    Judd,         -  4,224 


68  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

FOR    STATE    REPRESENTATIVES. 

Sherman,  2>527  Walker,  J»905 

Witt,  2,170  Maxwell,  2,184 

FOR    SHERIFF. 

Cook,  2,320  Burling,  2,243 

FOR     COMMISSIONER. 

Sauter,  2,282  Lane,  2,270 

FOR    CORONER. 

Kelly,  2,214  Burdell,  2,267 

While  the  Free  Soil  ticket  received  at  large  something  less 
than  300,000  votes  and  failed  to  carry  any  electoral  votes,  it 
snatched  the  long-looked  for  presidential  prize  from  Gen.  Cass 
and  the  Southern  slaveocracy,  and  while  Gen.  Taylor  was  elected, 
the  triumph  of  the  Whig  party  was  brief.  Its  death  knell  had 
been  sounded.  The  Free  Soil  movement  seated  Chase  in  the 
United  States  Senate  from  Ohio;  placed  in  the  lower  house  of 
Congress  enough  men  to  hold  the  balance  of  power,  kept  slavery 
out  of  Oregon,  and  compelled  the  admission  of  California  as  a 
free   state. 

Shortly  before  the  National  election  was  held  Chicago  and 
the  county  of  Cook  had  passed  through  a  series  of  contests  of  an 
exciting  local  nature.  The  Chicago  Daily  Democrat  for  March 
and  April,  1848,  contains  the  vote  for  and  against  the  new  State 
Constitution,  and  for  and  against  the  negro  clause,  prohibiting 
escaped  slaves  from  coming  to  Illinois.  The  vote  on  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  by  city  divisions  was  as  follows  : 

For  the  Constitution,  North  Division,  170;  South  Division, 
566;  West  Division,  154;  Total,  990.  Against  the  Constitution, 
North  Division,  261  ;  South  Division,  319;  West  Division,  86; 
Total,  666  ;     Majority  for,  324. 

By  city  divisions  the  vote  on  the  "Negro  Clause"  was  as  fol- 
lows : 

For  the  Negro  Clause,  North  Division,  40  ;  South  Division, 
95  ;  West  Division,  41  ;  Total,  176.  Against  the  Negro  Clause, 
North  Division,  388  ;  South  Division,  484;  West  Division,  190; 
Majority  against,  886. 

The  total  vote  in  Cook  county  was  400  for  and  1,084  against 
the  "Negro  Clause."  Cook  county  outside  of  Chicago,  224  for 
the  Negro  Clause,  and  32  against. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  69 

For  the  2-mill  tax,  North  Division,  164  ;  South  Division, 
413;  West  Division,  193;  Total,  770.  Against,  North  Division, 
259  ;  South  Division,  145  ;  West  Division,  38.  Majority  for, 
328.       Total  vote  in  the  State  of  Illinois  : 

For  the  Negro  Clause,  49,066  ;  against,  20,884. 

The  Democrat  of  April  19,  1848,  under  the  head  of  "Voting 
as  Yet  Viva  Voce,"  contained  the  following  : 

"Many  appear  to  be  under  the  impression  that  the  voting  at 
the  next  August  election  will  be  by  ballot  under  the  new  Consti- 
tution. This  is  an  error.  Section  15,  of  the  schedule  of  the  new 
Constitution  provides  that  the  General  Assembly  after  their  first 
session  after  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution  shall  pass 
laws  regulating  the  mode  of  voting  by  ballot,  etc.,  but  that  until 
such  laws  are  passed  the  voting  at  all  our  elections  shall  be  viva 
voce,  as  at  present." 

The  Democratic  city  convention  of  1848  was  held  Monday, 
February  28,  and  the  following  nominations  were  made  : 

For  Mayor,  James  Curtiss,  nominated  on  the  second  ballot, 
receiving  18  votes,  and  L.  C.  Kerchival,  11.  For  Marshal,  R. 
C.  Ross,  21  votes;  B.  Daily,  8  votes.  For  Collector,  James 
Fitzsimmons,  20;  A.  D.  Taylor,  7  ;  H.  Barnes,  3.  For  Treas- 
urer, Andrew  Getzler,  24  ;  C.  Taylor,  2  ;  W.  Wright,  2.  For 
Attorney,  P.  Ballengall,  24  votes  ;  G.  Manierre,  2.  For  Sur- 
veyor, Asa  F.  Bradley,  22  ;    G.  W.  Clark,  8  ;    James  Carney,  3. 

Assessor,  South  Division,  Nathan  H.  Bolles  ;  Street  Com- 
missioner, Charles  Baumgarten. 

Assessor,  North  Division,  George  O'Brien  ;  Street  Commis- 
sioner, Patrick  Duffy. 

Assessor,  West  Division,  B.  Gafeny  ;  Street  Commissioner, 
Patrick  Denny. 

Aldermen,  First  Ward,  Edward  Manierre  ;  Second,  Henry 
L.  Rucker  ;  Third,  William  Jones  ;  Fourth,  C.  L.  P.  Hogan  ; 
Fifth,  T.  Blaney  ;  Sixth,  Joseph  Berry  ;  Seventh,  Peter  Turbot ; 
8th,  John  Daley  ;  Ninth,   Samuel  McKay. 

The  Independent  Democrats  and  Whigs  held  a  convention 
and  made  nominations  as  follows  : 

For  Mayor,  James  H.  Woodworth  ;  City  Attorney,  Giles 
Spring  ;  Marshal,  Ambrose  Burnham  ;  Collector,  A.  D.  Taylor  ; 
Treasurer,  W.  L.  Church  ;  Assessor,  South  Division,  Thomas 
Church  ;  Street  Commissioner,  O.  Morrison  ;  Assessor,  North 
Division,  P.  J.  Denker ;  Street  Commissioner,  Andrew  Nelson; 
Aldermen,  Seventh  Ward,  Elihu  Granger  ;  Eighth  Ward,  W.  B. 
Herrick  ;  Ninth  Ward,  John  H.  Kinzie. 


7<D  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  election  was  held  March  7,  and  resulted  as  follows : 

Mayor,  James  H.  Woodworth,  Ind.,  1,971  ;  James  Curtiss, 
Dem.,  1,361  ;  Marshal,  Ambrose  Burnham,  Ind.  Whig,  1,973  ; 
R.  C.  Ross,  Dem.,  1,265  ;  Collector,  A.  D.  Taylor,  Dem.,  1,948  ; 
J.  Fitzsimmons,  Dem.,  1,254  ;  Attorney,  G.  Spring,  Whig,  Ind., 
1,912;  P.  Ballingall,  Dem.,  1,312;  Surveyor,  no  opposition,  A. 
F.  Bradley  ;  Treasurer,  W.  L.  Church,  Ind.,  1,941  ;  Andrew 
Getzler,  Dem.,  1,257.  The  Independents  also  elected  their 
Assessors  and  Street  Commissioners  in  the  North  and  South 
Divisions  and  the  straight  Democrats  theirs  in  the  West  Division, 
where  they  had  no  opposition.  The  Independents  also  elected 
their  Alderman  in  the  Eighth  Ward,  and  narrowly  escaped  get- 
ting John  H.  Kinzie  through  in  the  Ninth,  he  having  been  de- 
feated by  Samuel  McKay  by  only  one  vote,  as  the  following 
resume  will  show  :  Aldermen,  First  Ward,  E.  Manierre,  no 
opposition  ;  Second  Ward,  H.  L.  Rucker,  no  opposition  ;  Third 
Ward,  William  Jones,  377  ;  W.  H.  Adams,  41  ;  Fourth  Ward, 
Robert  Foss,  196  ;  C.  L.  P.  Hogan,  172  ;  Fifth  Ward,  J.  C. 
Haines,  248  ;  T.  Blaney,  3  ;  R.  Hugunin,  75  ;  F.  H.  Taylor,  70  ; 
Sixth  Ward,  A.  Pierce,  175  ;  Joseph  Berry,  90  ;  Seventh  Ward, 
P.  Turbot,  135  ;  E.  Granger,  114  ;  Eighth  Ward,  William  B. 
Herrick,  291  ;  J.  Daley,  184  ;  Ninth  Ward,  Samuel  McKay, 
131  ;  J.  H.  Kinzie,  130.  It  will  be  seen  that  three  other  Inde- 
pendents were  elected  in  the  Fourth,  Fifth  and  Sixth  Wards  who 
did  not  have  the  direct  indorsement  of  the  Independent  conven- 
tion. The  election  was  an  exciting  one,  and  the  summary  given 
shows  that  even  at  this  early  day  something  besides  the  nomina- 
tion of  a  well-organized  party  was  sometimes  necessary  to  politi- 
cal success. 

For  some  time  a  feeling  had  prevailed  that  the  city  was  be- 
coming disorderly,  and  that  reform  was  necessary.  March  4, 
1848,  the  city  Council  adopted  the  following  : 

Whereas,  Richard  C.  Ross,  City  Marshal,  has  proved  to  be 
an  inefficient  officer  by  countenancing  gambling  houses,  particu- 
larly keno  tables,  and  with  his  full  knowledge  tolerated  violations 
of  the  license  ordinance  ;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  R.  C.  Ross,  City  Marshal,  is  clearly  cen- 
surable for  gross  neglect  of  duty. 

March  18  the  Common   Council  passed  the  following  : 

An  ordinance  to  suppress  keno. 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago, that  any  person  or  persons  who  shall  keep  within  the  city 
of  Chicago  a  keno  game,   or  who  shall  run  or  otherwise  use  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  7  I 

same,  or  determine  any  chance  or  hazard  by  which  any  person 
or  persons  are  to  receive  any  money,  check  or  checks,  bank 
notes  or  bills,  or  other  valuable  thing,  shall  for  each  offense  pay  a 
penalty  of  $25,  to  be  recovered  by  the  city  of  Chicago  before 
any  Justice  of  the  Peace,  or  any  court  having  jurisdiction 
thereof. 

James  H.  Woodworth, 
Henry   B.   Clarke,  Mayor. 

Clerk. 

Passed  March  18,  1848. 

It  is  claimed  that  this  was  the  first  anti-gambling  ordinance 
passed  by  the  Chicago  Common  Council. 

Mayor  James  H.  Woodworth's  inaugural  message  of  1848 
gives  a  better  idea  of  the  condition  of  municipal  affairs  than 
almost  any  other  printed  statement  could  convey.  After  recom- 
mending that  $5,000  be  borrowed  to  meet  current  expenses  he 
suggested  that  the  salaries  of  city  officers  should  be  in  a  large 
measure  derived  from  the  fees  collected.  He  recommended  the 
building  of  a  house  for  the  hose  company,  and  one  for  a  hook 
and  ladder  company  about  to  be  organized.  It  was  also  sug- 
gested that  a  city  physician  be  appointed  for  attendance  at  the 
city  hospital.  The  low  stage  of  water  in  the  Chicago  river  was 
adverted  to,  and  it  was  stated  that  this  must  in  a  measure  be 
remedied  at  the  city's  expense.  The  negotiations  between  the 
County  Commissioners  and  the  Council  in  respect  to  the  public 
square  he  hoped  would  be  brought  to  a  favorable  termination. 
The  relative  advantages  between  planking  and  paving  streets 
should  be  determined.  The  wharfing  privileges  had  been  so 
arranged  with  individuals  that  the  city  would  receive  six  per 
cent,  upon  a  sum  varying  but  little  from  $180,000  principal,  pay- 
able at  the  option  of  purchasers.  The  first  $30,000  of  the  prin- 
cipal was  to  be  used  for  paying  off  city  liabilities,  and  the  bal- 
ance of  the  principal,  when  paid,  to  be  added  to  the  school  fund. 

The    Gem   of  the  Prairie  of  October  5,  1848,  contains  the 

following  in  reference  to  the  attendance  upon  the  public  schools  : 

Public  Schools. — According  to   the  report  of  the  School 

Inspectors  the  number  of  scholars  in  attendance  upon  the  public 

schools  during  the  month  of  September,  1848,  is  as  follows: 


District   Nos.    1   and   2, 
District  No.  3, 
District  No.  4,     - 


Largest 

Average 

number. 

71  umber. 

749 

605 

47 1 

363 

569 

398 

72  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

School  near  Jackson's,         -  -  -         -       90  75 

School  near  Bridgeport,  68  43 


Total,  ....         1,947  1,484 

Under  the  date  of  September  15,  the  following  statement  of 
the  mortality  is  given  : 

"  Mortality  in  Chicago. — A  comparison  of  the  mortality 
of  the  city  in  the  months  of  July  and  August  in  1847  and  1848, 
on  data  furnished  us  by  Mr.  Bates,  the  city  sexton,  shows  the  fol- 
lowing results  : 

"  1847— July,  43. 

"1847 — August,  73-116. 

"  1848— July,   38. 

"  1848— August,  55-95. 

"  It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  notwithstanding  the  large  increase 
in  population  within  the  year,  there  has  been  a  considerable  gain 
in  the  public  health  in  1848  over  that  for  the  corresponding 
period  of    1847." 

October  28  it  is  stated  that  Norris'  Chicago  Directory,  just 
published,  contains  about  6,000  names.  November  4  it  is  stated 
that  the  population  of  the  city,  as  given  by  the  same  directory, 
is  as  follows  : 

Males    over   20  years,  -  -  -  -  6,129 

Females    over  20  years,  ...  -       4,403 

Males    under  20  years,  ....  4,484 

Females  under   20  years,  -  4>775 

Colored    of    both  sexes,  ...  -  228 


Total,  -  20,023 

The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  was  then  the  great  com- 
mercial highway  between  the  city  and  the  interior  of  the  state. 
The  following  references  to  canal  craft  and  tolls  are  selected  as 
showing  the  volume  of  traffic  at  that  date  : 

"September  30  :  Canal  Craft. — There  are  150  boats  of  all 
descriptions  running  upon  the  canal,  with  an  aggregate  of  about 
13,000  tons  capacity." 

"October  21  :  The  receipts  of  the  canal  from  tolls  up  to 
the  13th  inst.  at  the  office  in  this  city  amount  to  $40,527.27." 

Mayor  Woodworth  was  re-elected  by  the  Democrats  March 
6,  1849.  1°  his  second  inaugural  message,  he  recommended  an 
immediate  and  thorough  cleansing  of  the  city,  in  view  of  the 
probable  approach  of  the  cholera,  and  the  adoption  of  a  uniform 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  J$ 

system  of  drainage.  Among  other  plans  suggested  was  that  of 
putting  down  sewers  near  the  surface  of  the  ground  in  the  princi- 
pal streets  leading  to  the  Chicago  river,  connecting  the  whole 
with  the  reservoirs  of  the  Chicago  Hydraulic  Company,  with  a 
view  of  cleansing  the  pipes  by  forcing  a  rapid  passage  of  fresh 
water  through  them  by  means  of  this  connection. 

The  increase  of  petty  crimes  and  the  prevalence  of  criminals 
was  commented  upon,  and  the  establishment  of  a  Bridewell  or 
House  of  Correction  was  recommended.  It  was  noted  that  the 
depressed  condition  of  the  city's  finances  made  it  impossible  to 
make  such  appropriations  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Fire  De- 
partment as  its  necessities  required.  Mention  was  made  of  dam- 
age done  by  a  flood  in  the  river,  and  it  was  further  stated  that 
the  public  grounds  between  Michigan  avenue  and  the-  lake 
shore  were  being  wasted  away  by  the  action  of  the  water.  The 
outstanding  orders  upon  the  city  treasury  amounted  to  between 
$3,000  and  $4,000,  and  the  available  means  of  the  city  were 
insufficient  to  liquidate  this  indebtedness.  The  result  of  this 
condition  of  affairs  was  the  depreciation  in  value  of  city  orders, 
and  a  resultant  loss  to  their  holders  of  from  5  to  6  per  cent. 

Mayor  James  H.  Woodworth  was  a  native  of  New  York, 
who  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1833,  and  early  became  prominent 
in  business  and  political  life.  He  was  engaged  in  the  milling 
business,  and  was  part  owner  of  the  old  Hydraulic  Mills  for  a 
time.  He  was  elected  Alderman  in  1845,  an^  also  in  1847,  and 
in  1854  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  serving  during  the  session 
of  1855-7. 

In  the  spring  of  1850  the  Democrats  again  nominated  James 
Curtiss,  and  he  was  duly  elected  March  5,  and  served  as  the 
fourteenth  Mayor  of  Chicago. 

For  two  years  following  the  adoption  of  the  new  state  con- 
stitution of  1848,  containing  the  "Negro  Clause,"  and  during 
Mayor  Curtiss'  second  term  the  agitation  over  the  "Black 
Laws"  was  kept  up  by  citizens  of  Chicago  and  generally  through- 
out the  state.  July  8,  1850,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  J.  H  Collins, 
John  M.  Wilson,  Edwin  C.  Larned,  George  Manierre  and 
Grant  Goodrich  issued  a  challenge  in  which,  like  knights  of  old, 
they  proposed  to  contend  against  any  orators  that  might  come, 
that  the  Fugitive  slave  law  was  unconstitutional  and  should  be 
repealed. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  July  8,  1850,  action  was 
taken  on  the  matter  in  the  Common  Council,  Alderman  Dodge 
offering  the  following  : 


74  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Whereas,  The  Fugitive  Slave  act  recently  passed  by  Con- 
gress is  revolting  to  our  moral  sense  and  an  outrage  upon  our  feel- 
ings of  justice  and  humanity,  because  it  disregards  all  the  securi- 
ties which  the  Constitution  and  laws  have  thrown  around  personal 
liberty,  and  its  direct  tendency  is  to  alienate  the  people  from 
their  love  and  reverence  for  the  Government  and  institutions  of 
our  country  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  as  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
has  solemnly  adjudged  that  State  officers  are  under  no  obliga- 
tions to  fulfill  duties  imposed  upon  them  as  such  officers  by  an 
act  of  Congress,  we  do  not,  therefore,  consider  it  our  duty  or  the 
duty  of  the  city  officers  of  the  city  of  Chicago  to  aid  or  assist 
in  the  arrest  of  fugitives  from  oppression,  and  by  withholding 
such  aid  or  assistance  we  do  not  believe  that  our  harbor 
appropriations  will  be  withheld,  our  railroads  injured,  our  com- 
merce destroyed,  or  that  treason  would  be  committed  against 
the  Government. 

The  resolution    was  unanimously  adopted. 

A  similar  resolution  was  offered  by  Alderman  Throop, 
October  21,   1850,  as  follows  : 

Whereas,  The  Fugitive  Slave  bill  virtually  suspends  the 
habeas  corpus  act,  and  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Con- 
gress of  the  free  States  who  sneaked  away  from  their  seats  and 
aided  and  abetted  in  the  passage  of  this  law,  richly  merit  the  re- 
proach of  all  lovers  of  freedom,  and  are  only  to  be  ranked  with 
the  traitor  Benedict  Arnold,  and  Judas  Iscariot,  who  betrayed 
his  Lord  and  Master  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  citizens,  officers,  and  police  of  the  City 
of  Chicago  be,  and  they  are  hereby  requested  to  abstain  from 
any  and  all  interference  in  the  capture  and  delivering  up  of  the 
fugitives  from  unrighteous  oppression,  of  whatever  nation,  name 
or  color. 

As  an  amendment  to  the  original  resolution,  Aid.  Sherwood 
offered  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  lately  passed  by  Con- 
gress is  a  cruel  and  unjust  law,  and  ought  not  to  be  respected  by 
an  intelligent  community,  and  that  this  Council  will  not  require 
the  city  police  to  render  any  assistance  for  the  arrest  of  fugitive 
slaves. 

The  amendment  was  accepted,  and  the  resolution  as  a  whole 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  9  ayes  to  2  nays. 

A  meeting  of  those  who  favored  the  law,  and  some  who 
feared  Congress  would  retaliate  upon  Chicago  for  the  action  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  75 

the  Council  by  cutting  off  the  harbor  appropriations  and  railroad 
grants,  was  held  at  the  City  Hall,  October  23.  Senator  Douglas 
addressed  the  meeting,  expounding  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  and 
advocating  it  as  a  wise  and  necessary  measure.  Resolutions 
were  adopted  eulogistic  of  the  Congress  and  impliedly  indorsing 
the  Fugitive  Slave  bill,  and  B.  S.  Morris  thereupon  introduced 
the  following  resolution,  which  was  also  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  are  entitled  to  our  most  profound 
gratitude  for  their  exertions  in  procuring  the  passage  of  several 
laws  at  the  late  session  of  Congress,  calculated  to  insure  the 
completion  of  a  railroad  through  the  center  of  our  State,  and  to 
restore  its  credit  to  that  position  it  is  entitled  to  occupy. 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  people  of  Chicago,  repudiate  the 
resolutions  passed  by  the  Common  Council  of  Chicago  upon  the 
subject  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  passed  by  Congress  at  its  last 
session. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Common  Council  held  the  following 
night,  October  24,  Aid.  Dodge  moved  to  reconsider  the  action 
on  the  Fugitive  Slave  law.  Carried,  ayes  12,  nays  1.  Aid. 
Hamilton  then  offered  a  resolution  to  expunge  tjie  resolutions 
from  the  record,  which  on  his  own  motion  was  laid  upon  the 
table. 

In  February,  1851,  the  Democrats  nominated  Walter  S. 
Gurnee  for  mayor.  He  was  a  substantial  business  man,  being  in 
the  saddlery  business  and  carrying  a  stock  of  general  hardware, 
and  was  also  one  of  the  first  directors  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 
Later  on,  and  until  his  retirement  from  business,  he  operated  one 
of  the  largest  tanneries  in  the  West.  He  had  great  confidence 
in  the  future  of  Chicago,  and  made  liberal  investments  in  real 
estate.  He  was  born  at  Haverstraw,  New  York,  in  18 13,  and 
arrived  in  Chicago  in  1836.  In  1863  he  removed  to  New  York 
City. 

The  date  of  Mayor  Gurnee's  first  election  was  March  4, 
1851,  and  in  his  inaugural  message,  delivered  March  11,  he  re- 
ferred first  to  the  report  of  the  Finance  Committee,  which 
showed  an  indebtedness  of  $101,304.19,  and  recommended  that 
inasmuch  as  the  portion  falling  due  during  the  current  year  bore 
12  per  cent,  interest,  the  funding  of  the  whole  debt,  and  that 
bonds  be  issued  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest.  The  message  ad- 
verted to  the  importance  of  sustaining  the  water  commissioners  ; 
recommended  a  permanent  system  of  sewerage,  the  excavation 
and  purification  of  the  river,  cleansing  of  the  streets  ;  the  erection 


j6  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

of  public  buildings  in  the  Court  House  square  commensurate  with 
the  city's  importance;  the  extension  of  the  public  schools,  and 
the  reorganization  of  the  police  department.  It  was  also  sug- 
gested that  all  ordinances  which  could  not  be  strictly  enforced  be 
repealed,  as,  if  allowed  to  remain,  they  would  have  a  tendency  to 
encourage  violations  of  those  which  were  susceptible  of  enforce- 
ment. 

Mayor  Gurnee  was  re-elected  mayor  March  2,  1852,  and 
served  a  second  term. 

In  1850  the  Democrats  carried  Cook  county  in  the  Con- 
gressional election  for  Richard  S.  Molony,  of  Belvidere,  by  2,863 
votes,  to  1,880  for  Churchill  C.  Coffins,  the  Whig  candidate; 
Molony's  majority  being  983.  This  vote  was  considered  indica- 
tive of  the  way  in  which  the  county  would  go  at  the  next  Presi- 
dential election,  and  it  was  not  a  mistaken  basis,  for  Franklin 
Pierce  carried  the  county  November  3,  1852,  by  a  majority  of 
885  over  Winfield  Scott,  the  Whig  candidate,  and  John  P.  Hale, 
Free  Soiler,  and  the  city  of  Chicago  by  646  votes  over  the  com- 
bined vote  of  his  opponents,  the  vote  being  as  follows : 

FOR    PRESIDENT COOK    COUNTY. 

767 


Franklin  Pierce,   Democrat, 

- 

3 

Winfield  Scott,    Whig, 

2, 

John  P.  Hale,  Free  Soil, 

- 

CITY    OF   CHICAGO. 

Pierce,             - 

2,835 

Scott, 

765 

Hale, 

424 

793 


This  was  the  last  of  Democratic  ascendancy  in  the  politics 
of  Cook  county  and  Chicago,  and  the  causes  leading  to  the  de- 
cline of  the  party  here  were  the  same  that  operated  adversely  to 
the  National  party  at  large.  The  unpopularity  of  Whig  princi- 
ples and  the  reaction  from  1848  had  weakened  and  disintegrated 
that  party,  and  the  defeat  of  Gen.  Scott  was  the  finishing  blow. 
The  Whigs  never  again  nominated  a  candidate,  but  four  years 
following  many  of  them  gave  their  votes  to  Fillmore,  the  candi- 
date of  the  American  party,  and  successor  to  President  Taylor, 
after  the  latter's  death,  in  July,  1850.  The  Democratic  party 
would  therefore  have  had  a  clear  field  in  1856  had  it  not  been  for 
the  organization  of  the  Republican  party.  By  some  authorities 
it  is  claimed  that  the  Liberty  party  supplied  the  nucleus  of  the 
Republican  party.  In  1842  the  Liberty  party  polled  but  142 
votes  in  Illinois;  in  1852  it  had  10,000  votes  in  the  State,  but 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  J? 

John  P.  Hale,  the  Free  Soil  candidate,  got  fewer  votes  by  far  in 
Cook  county  than  Van  Buren  had  polled  as  the  first  Free  Soil 
candidate  in  1848.  The  Republican  party  was  not  at  first  a 
party  of  Abolition,  nor  was  emancipation  thought  of  by  many  of 
its  founders  until  the  exigencies  of  war  and  the  arrogant  and 
traitorous  action  of  the  slave  power  moved  President  Lincoln  to 
issue  his  famed  Emancipation  Proclamation.  The  party  at  first 
was  composed  of  anti-slavery  Democrats,  anti-slavery  Whigs,  and 
anti-slavery  Americans,  all  animated  with  the  hope  of  preventing 
the  further  absorption  of  free  territory  and  of  checking  the  ag- 
gressive movements  of  the  adherents  of  slavery  in  the  councils 
of  the  government.  These  unsettled  elements  were  not  all 
united  in  a  distinct,  well-organized  and  formidable  party  until 
John  C.  Fremont  was  chosen  as  a  leader  upon  the  bold,  broad 
and  inspiring  declaration  that  there  should  be  no  further  exten- 
sion of  slavery  or  aggrandizement  of  power  by  its  promoters, 
and  the  adoption  of  a  platform  embodying  other  popular  princi- 
ples. The  question  of  whether  the  Republican  party  of  Illinois 
or  of  the  nation  first  had  birth  is  a  debatable  one.  Biographers 
of  Zebina  Eastman  relate  that  it  was  born  at  a  meeting  held  in 
Rockford  in  June,  1854,  which  meeting  was  presided  over  by 
Hooper  Warren  or  Selden  M.  Church,  the  latter  for  many  years 
a  citizen  of  Rockford,  and  prominently  identified  with  the  anti- 
slavery  movement.  Other  political  authorities  make  claims  of 
meetings  having  been  held  in  Springfield,  Jacksonville  and 
Bloomington  as  early  as  1853.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the 
anti-slavery  sentiment  first  developed  organization  nearer  the 
Northern  than  the  Southern  end  of  the  "  Underground  Rail- 
road ;"  in  the  clear  air  and  by  the  pure  waters  of  Lake  Michigan 
rather  than  on  the  sultry  confines  of  Egypt. 

In  April,  1854,  a  meeting  of  prominent  Chicago  and  state 
politicians,  including  Democrats  and  Whigs,  who  were  opposed 
to  the  course  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate, was  held  in  Room  4,  Tremont  House.  There  were  present 
Abraham  Lincoln,  Lyman  Trumbull,  Mark  Skinner,  O.  H. 
Browning,  John  E.  Stewart,  David  Davis,  Norman  B.  Judd,  J. 
Young  Scammon,  Francis  C.  Sherman  and  others  equally  well- 
known.  Those  present  pledged  themselves  to  the  support  of  an 
"Anti- Nebraska"  party,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  agitate  the 
subject.  This  led  to  a  fusion  of  sentiment  that  revolutionized 
the  politics  of  the  entire  northern  part  of  the  state. 

The  first  formal  move  in  the  direction  of  organizing  a  party 
was  at  a  meeting-  of  anti-Kansas-Nebraska  editors   held  at  Deca- 


^8  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

tur  February  22,  1856.  Among  the  prominent  men  present 
were  Dr.  C.  H.  Ray,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  George  Schneider, 
founder  of  the  Illinois  Staats  Zeitung,  and  William  13.  Ogden. 
This  meeting  issued  a  call  for  a  state  convention  to  be  held  at 
Bloomington,  May  29.  Prominent  Chicago  men  in  this  con- 
vention were  James  McKee,  who  was  elected  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents  ;  C.  L.  Wilson,  one  of  the  Secretaries  ;  Dr.  C.  H. 
Ray,  and  Norman  B.  Judd,  who  were  made  members  of  the  State 
Central  Committee,  and  John  Wentworth  and  Lyman  Trumbull, 
delegates.  On  the  17th  of  June  the  great  convention  of  anti- 
slavery  Democrats  and  Whigs  of  the  North  was  held  at  Phila- 
delphia, and  John  C.  Fremont  was  nominated  for  the  presidency 
by  the  National  Republican  party,  the  name  already  adopted  by 
the  organization  in  Illinois.  The  election  duly  occurred  Novem- 
ber 4,  1856,  after  an  exciting  campaign  of  five  months'  dura- 
tion, and  the  result  in  Cook  county  and  Chicago,  was  as  follows  : 

FOR  PRESIDENT COOK    COUNTY. 

John  C.  Fremont,  Republican,         -         -         9,020 
James  Buchanan,  Democrat,       -         -  5,680 

Millard  Fillmore,  American,  -         -  342 

CITY    OF    CHICAGO. 

Fremont,  ...  6,370 

Buchanan,  -  -  4>9T3 

Fillmore,         -  332 

Dr.  Levi  D.  Boone  and  W.  N.  Danenhower  were  electors 
on  the  Fillmore  ticket.  This  ticket  received  37,531  votes  in  Illi- 
nois as  against  105,528  for  Buchanan,  and  96,278  for  Fremont. 
The  Democrats  secured  a  majority  in  both  houses  of  the  Legis- 
lature. Samuel  Holmes  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  over 
Isaac  N.  Arnold,  by  a  vote  of   36  to  28. 

While  Buchanan  carried  the  state  of  Illinois  by  a  plurality 
of  9,250,  the  Republicans  elected  Bissell  governor  over  Richard- 
son, by  a  majority  of  4,697.  Thus  the  Republican  party  had,  by 
the  surprising  favor  with  which  its  principles  were  received,  swal- 
lowed up  in  four  years  the  Whig  and  Free  Soil  parties,  and  had 
weakened  the  Democrats  to  such  an  extent  that  they  never 
recovered  lost  ground  as  a  National  party  embodying  the  same 
platforms  of  principles  as  had  theretofore  characterized  the  party. 
During  the  time  these  important  elections  transpired  the  Con- 
gressional elections  in  the  district  including  Cook  county  fol- 
lowed the  same  tendency  of  sentiment. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  79 

The  census  of  1850  increased  the  representation  of  Illinois 
in  Congress  from  seven  to  nine  members,  and  by  the  redistribu- 
tion the  numbers  of  the  districts  were  changed.  In  1852  the 
First  District  extended  from  Galena  to  Waukegan,  in  Lake 
county,  and  Zebina  Eastman  and  other  Chicagoans  took  consid- 
erable interest  in  the  politics  of  the  district,  although  it  did  not 
belong  to  Chicago.  The  voters  of  the  Liberty  party  then  held 
the  balance  of  power  in  several  districts,  and  in  the  First  Dis- 
trict they  were  advised  by  Zebina  Eastman  not  to  throw  away 
their  votes.  Their  votes  went  to  elect  Elihu  Washburne,  of 
Galena,  then  a  Whig,  over  Thompson  Campbell,  Democrat,  or 
"Locofoco,"  and  although  Mr.  Washburne  made  no  pledges,  he 
proved  to  be  a  sincere  friend  of  the  cause,  and  became  a  promi- 
nent Republican  leader  when  that  party  was  formed.  He  repre- 
sented the  First  District  from  1853  to  1863,  and  the  Third  from 
1863  to  March  9,  1869,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  office  of 
Minister  to  France.  Mr.  Washburne  gave  the  protection  of  the 
American  flag  to  the  Germans  in  Paris  during  the  Franco-Ger- 
man war,  and  in  1880  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency, his  residence  being  then  and  since  in  Chicago. 

John  Wentworth  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1842  from  the 
then  Fourth  District,  which  included  Cook  county,  and  served 
four  terms  in  succession  as  a  Democrat.  He  was  elected  as  a 
Democrat  from  the  Second  District  and  served  from  1853  to 
1855,  and  from  the  First  District  from  1855  to  1867.  The  Con- 
gressional vote  of  Cook  county  in  1854,  was  for  James  H. 
Woodworth,   Free  Soil,   3,448  ;  for  Turner,  Democrat,  1,175. 

In  1856  Cook  county  gave  John  H.  Farnsworth,  Repub- 
lican, 8,993  votes,  and  John  Van  NortWyke,  Democrat,  5,572 
votes  for  Congress. 

In  1858  there  were  three  candidates  :  John  F.  Farnsworth, 
Republican,  who  received  10,108  votes  ;  Thomas  Dyer,  Douglas 
Democrat,  8,278  votes,  and  Robert  Blackwell,  Administration 
Democrat,  305  votes. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LINCOLN,  SHIELDS  AND  TRUMBULL — A  MEMORABLE  CONTEST — THE 
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  I  860 CHI- 
CAGO AND  COOK  COUNTY  IN  THE  WAR DOUGLAS'  PATRIOTISM 

LIFE  OF  DOUGLAS — THE  MOB  AT  MARKET  HALL— LINCOLN    AND 
THE    EMANCIPATION    PROCLAMATION — MAYORS    GRAY,    THROOP, 

MILLIKEN    AND     BOONE THE    KNOW-NOTHINGS THE     "LAGER 

BEER"    RIOT. 

The  first  real  break  of  the  Democratic  grasp  upon  the 
politics  of  Illinois  in  which  prominent  Chicago  men  took  an 
active  part,  was  at  the  time  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  excitement. 
In  the  Senate  of  the  Nineteenth  General  Assembly,  which 
convened  January  i,  1855,  were  Norman  B.  Judd,  Burton  C. 
Cook  and  John  M.  Palmer,  all  anti-Nebraska  Democrats.  A 
United  States  Senator  to  succeed  Senator  James  Shields  was 
to  be  elected.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  Whig  candidate,  and 
Gen.  Shields  the  Democratic.  The  balloting  commenced  in  joint 
session   February  8,   and  resulted  as  follows  : 

First  Ballot — Shields,  41  ;   Lincoln,  45  ;  scattering,  13. 

Second  Ballot — Shields,  41  ;  Lincoln,  43  ;  scattering,   15. 

Third  Ballot — Shields,  41  ;   Lincoln,  41  ;  scattering,  16. 

On  the  seventh  ballot  Gen.  Shields'  name  was  withdrawn, 
and  that  of  Joel  A.  Matteson  substituted.  The  result  was, 
Matteson,  44  ;  Lincoln,  38  ;  scattering  16. 

Eighth  Ballot — Matteson,  46  ;   Lincoln,  27;   scattering,   25. 

On  the  ninth  ballot  Lincoln's  name  was  withdrawn,  and  on 
this  ballot  Matteson  received  47  ;  Lyman  Trumbull,  35  ;  scatter- 
ing, 16. 

The  result  of  the  tenth  ballot  was  Trumbull,  51  ;  Matteson, 
47  ;  scattering  1,  and  Trumbull  having  received  a  majority  of  all 
votes  cast,  was  declared  the  Senator  elect. 

It  is  related  that  when  Mr.  Lincoln  found  that  he  could  not 
get  the  votes  of  Messrs.  Judd,  Cook,  Palmer,  and  that  of  Henry 
S.  Baker,  an  anti-Nebraska  Whig,  which  would  have  secured  his 
election,    he,   while    standing    in  the  lobby,    reached    over   and 

(So) 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  8  I 

directed  a  member  of  the  House  to  withdraw  his  name,  which, 
being  done,  Trumbull  was  elected  on  the  succeeding  ballot. 

Lyman  Trumbull  was  re-elected  United  States  Senator 
January  10,  1861,  over  Samuel  S.  Marshall,  by  a  vote  of  54  to  46. 
The  Republicans  had  a  majority  in  both  branches  of  the  legisla- 
ture, and  it  was  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  state  that  any 
party  other  than  the  Democratic  had  a  majority  in  both  Houses. 

January  15,  1867,  Mr.  Trumbull  was  again  re-elected  United 
States  Senator,  this  time  defeating  T.  Lyle  Dickey  by  a  vote  of 
76  to   33. 

Senator  Douglas  challenged  the  manner  in  which  the  first 
election  of  Trumbull  was  brought  about  in  his  second  joint  de- 
bate with  Lincoln  at  Freeport,  August  27,  1858.  These  two 
oratorical  giants  had  debated  before  this  at  Chicago.  July  9,  at 
Chicago,  Douglas  made  a  deliberate  and  carefully  phrased  con- 
clusion on  Lincoln's  speech  of  June  16,  and  the  following  day 
(July  10),  Lincoln  made  a  brief  review  of  Douglas' speech  of  the 
9th.  This  preliminary  crossing  of  swords  led  to  the  challenge  of 
Douglas  to  a  joint  debate  by  Lincoln,  July  24.  The  challenge 
and  reply  were  written  in  Chicago,  both  at  the  Tremont  House, 
where  both  of  these  eminent  men  were  frequently  guests,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln's  challenge  was  handed  to  Mr.  Douglas  by  Norman 
B.  Judd,  who  then  represented  Cook  county  in  the  State  Senate. 
Douglas  fixed  upon  the  places  of  meeting  and  Lincoln  accepted 
the  list  July  31.      In  his  address  at  Freeport,  Mr.    Douglas  said  : 

"In  1854,  after  the  death  of  Clay  and  Webster,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, on  the  part  of  the  Whigs,  undertook  to  Abolitionize  the 
Whig  party,  by  dissolving  it,  transferring  the  members  into  the 
Abolition  camp,  and  making  them  train  under  Giddings,  Fred 
Douglas,  Lovejoy,  Chase,  Farnsworth,  and  other  Abolition  lead- 
ers. Trumbull  undertook  to  dissolve  the  Democratic  party  by 
taking  them  into  the  Abolition  camp.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  aided  in 
his  efforts  by  many  leading  Whigs  throughout  the  state,  your 
Member  of  Congress,  Mr.  Washburne,  being  one  of  the  most 
active.  Trumbull  was  aided  by  many  renegades  from  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  among  whom  were  John  Wentworth,  Tom  Turner 
and  others  with  whom  you  are  familiar.      *     *     * 

"When  the  bargain  between  Lincoln  and  Trumbull  was  com- 
pleted for  Abolitionizing  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  they 
'spread'  over  the  state,  Lincoln  pretending  to  be  an  old  line 
Whig,  in  order  to  rope  in  the  Whigs,  and  Trumbull  pretending 
to  be  as  good  a  Democrat  as  he  ever  was  in  order  to  coax  the 
Democrats  over  into  the  Abolition  ranks.      *     *     * 


82  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"  It  has  been  published  to  the  world  and  satisfactorily 
proven,  that  there  was,  at  the  time  the  alliance  was  made  be- 
tween Trumbull  and  Lincoln  to  Abolitionize  the  two  parties,  an 
agreement  that  Lincoln  should  take  Shields'  place  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  Trumbull  should  have  mine  so  soon  as  they 
could  conveniently  get  rid  of  me.  When  Lincoln  was  beaten 
for  Shields'  place  *  *  *  he  felt  sore  and  restive ;  his 
friends  grumbled,  and  some  of  them  came  out  and  charged 
that  the  most  infamous  treachery  had  been  practiced  against  him  ; 
that  the  bargain  was  that  Lincoln  was  to  have  had  Shields'  place 
and  Trumbull  was  to  have  waited  for  mine,  but  that  Trumbull, 
having  the  control  of  a  few  Abolitionized  Democrats,  he  pre- 
vented them  from  voting  for  Lincoln,  thus  keeping  him  within  a 
few  votes  of  an  election  until  he  succeeded  in  forcing  the  party 
to  drop  him  and  elect  Trumbull.  Well,  Trumbull  having  cheated 
Lincoln,  his  friends  made  a  fuss,  and  in  order  to  keep  them  and 
Lincoln  quiet,  the  party  were  obliged  to  come  forward,  in  ad- 
vance, at  the  last  state  election,  and  make  a  pledge  that  they 
would  go  for  Lincoln  and  nobody  else.  Lincoln  could  not  be 
silenced  in  any  other  way." 

Prior  to  the  opening  of  the  joint  debates  Lincoln's  friends 
were  fearful  that  he  would  commit  himself  by  expressions  which 
would  allow  Douglas  the  advantage  over  him,  and  when,  at  the 
opening  of  the  debate  just  quoted  from,  Lincoln  propounded  four 
certain  questions  bearing  upon  the  extension  of  slave  territory, 
they  came  to  him  and  insisted  that  he  had  played  right  into 
Douglas'  hands  ;  that  he  had  done  just  what  Douglas  could  most 
have  desired  him  to  do,  and  had  as  good  as  elected  him  to  the 
Senate. 

Lincoln  replied  :  "That  may  be,  but  it  will  defeat  him  for 
the  Presidency."  The  answers  made  by  Douglas  to  these  ques- 
tions lost  him  the  support  of  the  Southern  Democrats  in  i860, 
and  created  the  opportunity  for  the  election  of  a  president  by  the 
Republicans,  and  Lincoln  was  the  man  of  the  hour,  who,  on 
account  of  the  prominence  he  had  gained  in  his  controversy  with 
Douglas,  became  the  popular  and  victorious  nominee  of  the 
Republican  party. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated  for  President  by  the  Republican 
National  Convention,  which  assembled  in  the  Wigwam  building, 
southeast  corner  of  Lake  and  Market  streets,  May  16,  i860,  and 
Mr.  Douglas  by  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  at  Balti- 
more, June  18. 

There  were  four   Presidential  and  four  State  tickets  in  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  S$ 

field.  The  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  electoral  ticket  was  headed  by- 
Leonard  Swett.  It  received  171,137  votes  in  the  State,  and  of 
the  number  14,589  were  given  to  Mr.  Lincoln  in  Cook  county. 
Among  the  Douglas  and  Johnson  electors  were  S.  Corning  Judd, 
James  L.  D.  Morrison,  and  Calvin  A.  Warren.  The  highest 
vote  the  ticket  received  in  the  State  was  158,257,  and  in  Cook 
county  9,846.  The  Bell  and  Everett  electors  received  4,851 
votes  in  the  State,  and  107  in  Cook  county.  This  ticket  is  called 
by  many  the  "  Straight  Whig  "  ticket,  and  by  others  the  "  Con- 
stitutional Union"  ticket,  the  latter  from  the  convention  of 
twenty  States  that  met  in  convention  at  Baltimore,  May  9.  The 
Breckinridge  and  Lane  ticket,  called  the  Bourbon,  or  Southern 
Democratic  ticket,  received  2,288  votes  in  the  State  and  87  of 
them  were  cast  in  Cook  county.  In  this  election  Isaac  N.  Ar- 
nold, Republican,  defeated  Augustus  M.  Herrington,  Douglas- 
Democrat,  for  Congress,  receiving  14,663  votes  in  Cook  county 
to  9,791  for  Herrington,  who  ran  slightly  behind  Douglas.  The 
total  vote  for  Congressman  in  the  district  was  47,856,  of  which 
Arnold  received  30,834;  Herrington,  16,950;  scattering,  72. 

The  Twenty-Second  General  Assembly  convened  January 
7,  1 86 1.  The  Chicago  delegation  numbered  William  B.  Ogden 
in  the  Senate,  and  in  the  House  J.  Young  Scarrwnon,  William 
H.  Brown,  S.  M.  Wilson  and  Homer  Wilmarth.  April  23  Gov. 
Richard  Yates  convened  the  General  Assembly  in  extraordinary 
session  to  take  action  upon  President  Lincoln's  call  for  75,000 
men  to  put  down  the  rebellion  and  preserve  the  Union.  Gov- 
ernor Yates,  in  his  message  to  the  Assembly,  in  referring  to  the 
services  tendered  him  in  his  efforts  to  raise  troops  and  money, 
said:  "Our  principal  city  (Chicago)  has  responded  with  contri- 
butions of  men  and  money  worthy  of  her  fame  for  public  spirit 
and  patriotic  devotion.  Nearly  a  million  of  money  has  been 
offered  to  the  State,  as  a  loan,  by  our  patriotic  capitalists  and 
other  private  citizens,  to  pay  the  expenses  connected  with  the 
raising  of  our  State  troops  and  temporarily  providing  for  them." 

Lyman  Trumbull,  who  had  just  been  elected  United  States 
Senator,  and  John  A.  McClernand,  who  had  been  returned  to 
Congress  from  the  Sixth  district,  ably  addressed  the  Senate  and 
House  in  January  in  favor  of  the  prosecution  of  the  war  and 
crushing  the  rebellion. 

The  patriotic  principles  and  unselfish  disposition  of  Senator 
Douglas  were  illustrated  by  his  visit  to  President  Lincoln,  shortly 
after  his  proclamation  calling  for  75,000  troops  had  been  issued, 
and  his  assurance  to  his  successful  rival  that  he  intended  to  stand 


84  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

by  him  as  long  as  his  country  was  in  peril.  It  was  then  the  fa- 
mous "Douglas  dispatch"  was  formulated  and  sent  to  the  country 
through  the  medium  of  the  Associated  press.    It  was  as  follows  : 

"April  18,  1 86 1,  Senator  Douglas  called  on  the  President 
and  had  an  interesting  conversation  on  the  present  condition  of 
the  country.  The  substance  of  it  was,  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  that  while  he  was  unalterably  opposed  to  the  adminis- 
tration in  all  its  political  issues,  he  was  prepared  to  fully  sustain 
the  President  in  the  exercise  of  all  his  constitutional  functions 
to  preserve  the  Union,  maintain  the  Government  and  defend  the 
Federal  capital.  A  firm  policy  and  prompt  action  were  necessary. 
The  capital  was  in  danger,  and  must  be  defended  at  all  hazards, 
and  at  any  expense  of  men  and  money.  He  spoke  of  the  pres- 
ent and  future,  without  reference  to  the  past." 

The  General  Assembly  of  Illinois  having  passed  a  joint 
resolution  requesting  Senator  Douglas  to  address  them  on  the 
great  issues  of  the  hour,  he  arrived  at  Springfield  and  addressed 
the  two  Houses  April  25.  The  following  are  extracts  from  his 
speech  on  this  occasion  : 

"  For  the  first  time  since  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, a  widespread  conspiracy  exists  to  overthrow  the  best 
government  the  sun  of  heaven  ever  shone  upon.  An  invading 
army  is  marching  upon  Washington.  The  boast  has  gone  forth 
from  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States 
that  by  the  first  of  May  the  rebel  army  will  be  in  possession  of 
the  National  capital,  and  by  the  first  of  July  its  headquarters 
will  be  in  old  Independence  Hall.  *  *  The  only  question  for 
us  is  whether  we  shall  wait  supinely  for  the  invaders,  or  rush,  as 
one  man,  to  the  defense  of  that  we  hold  most  dear.  Piratical 
flags  are  afloat  on  the  ocean,  under  pretended  letters  of  marque. 
Our  great  river  has  been  closed  to  the  commerce  of  the  North- 
west. *  *  So  long  as  hope  remained  of  peace,  I  plead  and 
implored  for  compromise.  Now,  that  all  else  has  failed,  there  is 
but  one  course  left,  and  that  is  to  rally  as  one  man  under  the  flag 
of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  Madison  and  Franklin.  At 
what  time  since  the  government  was  organized  have  the  consti- 
tutional rights  of  the  South  been  more  secure  than  now?  For 
the  first  time  since  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  there  is  no  legal 
restriction  against  the  spread  of  slavery  in  the  territories.  When 
was  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  more  faithfully  executed  ?  What  sin- 
gle act  has  been  done  to  justify  this  mad  attempt  to  overthrow 
the  Republic  ?  We  are  told  that  because  a  certain  party  has 
carried  a  Presidential  election,  therefore  the  South  chose  to  con- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  85 

sider  their  liberties  insecure  !  I  had  supposed  it  was  a  funda- 
mental principle  of  American  institutions  that  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority, constitutionally  expressed,  should  govern  !  If  the  defeat 
at  the  ballot-box  is  to  justify  rebellion,  the  future  history  of  the 
United  States  may  be  read  in  the  past  history  of  Mexico.  It  is 
a  prodigious  crime  against  the  freedom  of  the  world  to  attempt 
to  blot  the  United  States  out  of  the  map  of  Christendom. 
How  long  do  you  think  it  will  be  before  the  guillotine  is 
in  operation  ?  Allow  me  to  say  to  my  former  political  enemies, 
you  will  not  be  true  to  your  country  if  you  seek  to  make  politi- 
cal capital  out  of  these  disasters ;  and  my  old  friends,  you  will  be 
false  and  unworthy  of  your  principles  if  you  allow  political  defeat 
to  convert  you  into  traitors  to  your  native  land.  The  shortest 
way  now  to  peace  is  the  most  stupendous  and  unanimous  prep- 
arations  for  war." 

Arrangements  were  made  for  an  immense  mass  meeting  to 
be  held  at  the  Wigwam  building  in  Chicago,  and  Mr.  Douglas 
was  asked  to  address  the  assemblage.  He  went  direct  to  Chicago 
from  Springfield,  and  addressed  the  meeting  as  follows  : 

"I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I  will  not  do  you  or  myself  the  in- 
justice to  think  that  this  magnificent  ovation  is  personal  to  my- 
self. I  rejoice  to  know  that  it  expresses  your  devotion  to  the 
Constitution,  the  Union,  and  the  flag  of  our  country.  I  will  not 
conceal  gratification  at  the  incontrovertible  test  this  vast  audience 
presents — that  whatsoever  political  differences  or  party  questions 
may  have  divided  us,  yet  you  all  had  a  conviction  that,  when  the 
country  should  be  in  danger,  my  loyalty  could  be  relied  on.  That 
the  present  danger  is  imminent,  no  man  can  conceal.  If  war 
must  come — if  the  bayonet  must  be  used  to  maintain  the  Consti- 
tution, I  say  before  God,  my  conscience  is  clear.  I  have  struggled 
long  for  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  difficulty.  I  have  not  only 
tendered  those  states  what  was  their  right,  but  I  have  gone  to 
the  very  extreme  of   magnanimity. 

"The  return  we  receive  is  war  ;  armies  marching  upon  our 
capital ;  obstructions  and  dangers  to  our  navigation  ;  letters  of 
marque,  to  invite  pirates  to  prey  upon  our  commerce  ;  a  con- 
certed movement  to  blot  out  the  United  States  of  America  from 
the  map  of  the  globe.  The  question  is,  '  Are  we  going  to  main- 
tain the  country  of  our  fathers,  or  allow  it  to  be  stricken  down 
by  those  who,  when  they  can  no  longer  govern,  threaten  to 
destroy  ?'  *  *  *  The  slavery  question  is  a  mere  excuse. 
The  election  of  Lincoln  is  a  mere  pretext.  The  present  seces- 
sion movement  is  the  result  of  an  enormous  conspiracy,  formed 


86  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

more  than  a  year  since,  formed  by  leaders  in  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy more  than  twelve  months  ago. 

"But  this  is  no  time  for  the  detail  of  causes.  The  con- 
spiracy is  now  known.  Armies  have  been  raised,  war  is  levied 
to  accomplish  it.  There  are  only  two  sides  to  the  question. 
Every  man  must  be  for  the  United  States  or  against  it.  There 
can  be  no  neutrals  in  this  war,  only  patriots  or  traitors. 

"Thank  God,  Illinois  is  not  divided  on  this  question.  I 
know  they  expected  to  present  a  united  South  against  a  divided 
North.  They  hoped  in  the  Northern  states  party  questions 
would  bring  civil  war  between  Democrats  and  Republicans,  when 
the  South  would  step  in  with  her  cohorts,  aid  one  party  to  con- 
quer the  other,  and  then  make  easy  prey  of  the  victors.  Their 
scheme  was  carnage  and  civil  war  in  the   North. 

"There  is  but  one  way  to  defeat  this.  In  Illinois  it  is  being 
so  defeated,  by  closing  up  the  ranks.  War  will  thus  be  pre- 
vented on  our  own  soil.  While  there  was  a  hope  for  peace,  I 
was  ready  for  any  reasonable  sacrifice  or  compromise  to  main- 
tain it.  But  when  the  question  comes  of  war  in  the  cotton  fields 
of  the  South,  or  the  corn  fields  of  Illinois,  I  say  the  further  off 
the  better. 

"I  have  said  more  than  I  intended  to  say.  It  is  a  sad  task 
to  discuss  questions  so  fearful  as  civil  war  ;  but  sad  as  i  t  is,  bloody 
and  disastrous  as  I  expect  it  will  be,  I  express  it  as  my  conviction 
before  God,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  American  citizen  to  rally 
around  the  flag  of  his  country. 

"I  thank  you  again  for  this  magnificent  demonstration.  By  it 
you  show  you  have  laid  aside  party  strife.  Illinois  has  a  proud 
position — united,  firm,  determined  never  to  permit  the  govern- 
ment to  be  destroyed." 

Lincoln  and  Douglas,  the  two  greatest  political  figures  of  the 
day,  who  rocked  the  country  from  center  to  circumference,  and 
one  of  whom  led  a  new  party  to  victory,  were  essentially  Illinois- 
ans  in  their  every  instinct  and  feeling.  While  neither  were  born 
here  this  was  their  home  and  the  state  they  loved. 

The  history  of  Stephen  Arnold  Douglas  is  largely  a  history 
of  Illinois,  and  much  of  it  is  known  to  all  who  are  conversant  with 
the  political  history  of  their  country.  He  was  born  in  Brandon, 
Vt.,  April  23,  18 13,  his  ancestors  being  of  Puritan  stock.  Two 
months  after  his  birth  his  father  died,  and  on  account  of  the 
straitened  circumstances  of  his  mother  he  was  sent  to  live  with 
his  maternal  uncle.  He  attended  the  schools  of  his  native  village 
until  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  cabinet- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  87 

maker.  It  was  but  a  short  time  before  he  was  enabled  to  cease 
mechanical  work  and  follow  the  bent  of  his  mind  to  obtain  an 
education  and  he  entered  Brandon  Academy,  where  he  remained 
a  pupil  one  year.  His  mother  having  remarried,  he  removed 
with  her  to  Canandaigua,  and  having  chosen  the  profession  of 
the  law  he  entered  the  office  of  Hubbell  Bros.,  as  a  clerk.  In 
1833  he  determined  to  go  to  the  West,  and  journeyed  to  Win- 
chester, a  little  Illinois  village,  where  he  became  an  auctioneer's 
clerk  for  a  season.  He  soon  opened  a  private  school  as  a  means 
of  enabling  him  to  prosecute  his  legal  studies,  and  in  1834  he 
was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  Supreme  Court.  The  following 
year  his  talents  were  recognized  by  friends  in  the  Illinois  Legis- 
lature, and  he  was  elected  Attorney-general.  In  1836  he  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  in  1838  made  his  first  canvass  for 
a  seat  in  Congress,  receiving  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  in  the 
election,  but  he  was  counted  out  by  a  partisan  canvassing  board, 
because  his  name  was  incorrectly  spelled  on  a  number  of  ballots. 
In  1840  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  of  Illinois,  and  in 
1 84 1  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court.  In  1843  ne 
resigned  his  seat  upon  the  bench,  and  after  a  heated  contest,  was 
elected  to  Congress  by  a  majority  of  four  hundred  votes,  which 
even  the  ingenuity  of  a  politically  hostile  board.of  canvassers 
could  not  overturn.  In  1844  he  secured  a  re-election  by  a 
majority  of  one  thousand  nine  hundred,  and  in  1846  was 
triumphantly  returned  by  a  majority  of  three  thousand.  From 
the  date  of  his  first  election  his  remarkable  and  brilliant  gifts  of 
oratory  ;  his  energy  in  national  councils  and  fearlessness  in 
debate  made  him  one  of  the  conspicuous  men  of  the  nation. 
Before  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  1846,  to  which  body  he  had 
been  elected  representative  by  so  decided  a  majority,  he  was 
chosen  United  States  Senator,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  in 
March,  1847,  remaining  a  member  of  that  body  until  his  death. 
At  the  outset  of  his  career  in  Congress  he  was  recognized  as  a 
fearless  champion  of  the  principle  of  state  sovereignty,  especially 
as  opposed  to  national  intervention  in  such  matters  as  the  mak- 
ing and  control  of  internal  improvements,  and  one  of  his  first 
speeches  was  in  behalf  of  a  bill  making  an  appropriation  for 
Western  lakes  and  rivers,  in  which  he  advocated  a  system  of  ton- 
nage charges  to  be  levied  by  the  state.  He  also  advocated  the 
law  extending  the  admiralty  jurisdiction  of  United  States  Courts 
over  the  Northern  lakes.  In  all  foreign  matters  Mr.  Douglas 
was  intensely  American  in  his  views  and  action.  He  opposed 
the  proposed  compromise   of    the    Oregon   boundary    question 


88  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

warmly,  and  with  equal  vigor  championed  the  prosecution  of  the 
Mexican  war.  While  a  Senator  he  lent  his  assistance  to  the  bill 
granting  to  the  state  of  Illinois  the  right  of  way  through  the  pub- 
lic lands,  together  with  the  title  to  alternate  sections  along  the 
route  of  railroads  actually  constructed,  and  together  with  Judge 
Sidney  Breese  he  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  developed 
the  wealth  of  the  state  by  this  early  championship  of  the  meas- 
ure which  became  a  law,  and  out  of  which  grew  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad.  It  was  perhaps,  his  attitude  on  slavery,  and  the 
various  measures  for  its  regulation  introduced  by  him  that  more 
than  anything  else  made  him  prominent  nationally,  although  in 
1844  ne  gained  much  celebrity  through  his  defense  of  Gen.  Jack- 
son, of  whom  he  was  a  warm  admirer  and  devoted  adherent. 
Congress  had  seen  fit  to  censure  the  rugged  old  hero  of  the  war 
of  18 1 2,  by  passing  an  order  fining  him  $1,000  for  having  de- 
clared martial  law  in  New  Orleans.  Douglas,  in  a  brilliant 
speech  in  support  of  a  bill  refunding  the  fine,  which  with  inter- 
est then  amounted  to  about  $2,700,  attracted  the  sympathies  of 
the  House,  and  the  bill  was  passed  without  the  loss  of  the  vote 
of  any  member  of  his  party,  and  great  gains  from  the  opposition, 
the  record  standing  158  to  28  in  favor  of  the  measure.  In  the 
Senate  there  was  a  strictly  party  vote  of  28  to  22.  Gen.  Jackson 
left  with  his  literary  executor  a  copy  of  this  speech  indorsed. 

"This  speech  constitutes  my  defense  ;  I  lay  it  aside  as  an 
inheritance  for  my  grandchildren." 

The  attitude  of  Senator  Douglas  on  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
question,  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  Fugitive  Slave  law 
divided  his  constituents  in  opinion  and  lost  him  the  support  of 
many  former  friends.  Only  a  great  man  could  have  evoked 
such  criticism  and  bitter  hostility  as  his  course  developed.  He 
made  his  first  public  appearance  in  Chicago  in  1840  and  took  up 
his  residence  in  this  city  in  1847.  ^n  October,  1850,  he  spoke 
before  a  great  mass  meeting,  defending  the  principles  of  the 
Compromise  and  the  Fugitive  Slave  bill,  and  enunciated  the  prin- 
ciples which  in  1853  became  embodied  in  his  Kansas- Nebraska 
bill.  Resolutions  were  adopted  at  this  meeting  indorsing  his 
course  and  denouncing  the  action  of  the  Common  Council,  which 
body  had  directed  the  police  force  not  to  obey  the  law  providing 
for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  His  activity  in  the  nation's 
councils  and  bold  stand  upon  all  great  and  vital  public  questions 
had  at  this  date  convinced  his  friends  that  he  was  the  coming 
great  statesman,  and  they  attempted  to  elevate  him  to  the  Presi- 
dency.     He  received   ninety-two  votes   for  the  nomination   for 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  89 

President  in  the  Democratic  National  Convention  in  1852.  In 
1854  his  advocacy  of  the  Nebraska  bill  again  divided  his  follow- 
ing, and  in  Chicago  every  journal  united  in  denouncing  him.  He 
returned  to  the  city  and  arranged  for  a  great  meeting,  to  be  held 
at  North  Market  hall  on  the  evening  of  September  1.  Various 
accounts  have  been  published  of  this  notable  event ;  it  having 
been  charged  in  some  that  the  people  of  Chicago  denied  Doug- 
las the  right  of  free  speech  and  in  others  that  he  was  mobbed 
outright.  There  is  no  doubt  that  a  turbulent  crowd  not  in  sym- 
pathy with  Douglas  held  possession  of  the  street  in  front  of  the 
North  Market  hall,  and  for  no  less  than  four  hours  refused  to 
let  Douglas  explain  himself  or  state  his  position  upon  the  lead- 
ing questions  of  the  time.  Mayor  Isaac  L.  Milliken  presided  at 
the  meeting  and  Mr.  Douglas  was  flanked  on  the  platform  by 
General  Hart  L.  Stewart,  Dan  Mclllroy.  Francis  C.  Sherman, 
Cornelius  Price,  Tom  Mackin,  Dan  O'Hara,  William  Price,  Elihu 
Granger,  Elisha  Tracy,  Isaac  Cook  and  Col.  Dick  Hamilton. 
The  Chicago  Times  of  August  19,  1877,  contained  an  account 
of  the  anti-Douglas  demonstration,  together  with  the  causes  lead- 
ing up  to   it,  from  which  the  following  is  taken  : 

"  Two  causes  led  to  the  mobbing  of  the  Little  Giant  in 
1854.  Those  were  Know-nothing  days,  and  the  Nebraska  ex- 
citement— supplemented  by  the  Kansas  furore — was  coming  to  a 
head.  That  it  was  a  period  of  turmoil  is  little  matter  for  won- 
der. In  the  one  case  it  was  a  question  between  the  native  and 
the  foreign  born  element — a  question,  in  fact,  whether  the 
adopted  citizen  had  any  rights  which  the  native  was  bound  to 
respect.  In  the  other  case  it  was  a  struggle  between  freedom 
and  slavery  ;  a  life  and  death,  hand-to-hand  struggle  then  begun, 
and  which  came  to  an  end  only  with  the  surrender  of  Lee  under 
the  apple  tree.  *  *  *  There  was  at  that  time  a  daily 
paper  in  Chicago  called  the  Democratic  Press.  It  was  edited  by 
John  L.  Scripps  and  Hon.  William  Bross,  the  latter  still  surviv- 
ing. This  paper,  once  Democratic,  turned  with  vindictive  vehe- 
mence on  the  '  Little  Giant,'  and  left  no  means  untried  to  turn 
the  populace  against  him.  Just  before  the  meeting  all  manner 
of  reckless  reports  were  given  currency  by  the  opposition  press, 
one  being  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Douglas  had  selected  a  body- 
guard of  five  hundred  Irishmen  who,  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
were  to  be  present  and  compel  the  people  to  silence  while  he 
spoke.  This  story  was  spread  to  inflame  the  Know-nothing  ele- 
ment. *  *  Under  such  circumstances  as  these  assem- 
bled the  meeting  on  that  September  evening. 


90  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

"  The  gathering  was  on  Michigan  street,  immediately  in  front 
of  the  old  North  Market  hall.  A  great  crowd  was  assembled, 
and  it  was  plain  from  the  start  that  a  wicked  feeling  was  abroad. 
A  little  before  8  o'clock  Mr.  Douglas  began  to  speak.  And 
still  the  crowd  increased.  It  completely  filled  up  Michigan  street, 
east  as  far  as  Dearborn,  and  west  as  far  as  Clark.  And,  besides 
this,  the  roofs  of  opposite  houses  were  covered,  and  the  windows 
and  balconies  filled,  for  the  '  Little  Giant'  had  a  way  of  making 
himself  heard  at  a  great  distance. 

"  The  Senator  had  spoken  but  a  few  minutes  when  it  became 
apparent  that  there  was  an  element  present  that  was  not  dis- 
posed to  hear  him.  On  the  questioning  of  some  statements  of 
the  speaker  by  some  person  in  the  crowd  the  rumpus  began  in 
earnest,  and  for  a  matter  of  two  hours  a  juvenile  pandemonium 
sported  at  a  white  rage  all  around  that  old  Market  hall.  First 
hisses  were  in  order.  The  Senator  paused  until  silence  was  com- 
paratively restored,  when  he  told  the  meeting  that  he  came  there 
to  address  his  constituents,  and  he  intended  to  be  heard.  He 
was  instantly  assailed  by  all  manner  of  epithets.  Every  name 
that  vile  tongue  could  invent  was  hurled  at  him.  In  a  moment 
he  was  surrounded  by  a  howling,  raging  mob,  hungry  to  do  him 
personal  injury.  But,  all  undaunted,  he  fearlessly  faced  the 
enemy,  at  the  same  time  keeping  down  a  little  company  of  friends 
on  the  platform,  who  were  all  eagerness  to  resent  the  insults  and 
affronts  so  brutally  heaped  upon  their  idol.  Mr.  Douglas  ap- 
pealed to  the  latter  to  be  calm  ;  to  leave  him  to  deal  with  the 
mob  before  him.  He  boldly  denounced  the  violence  exhibited 
as  a  preconcerted  thing,  and  in  defiance  of  yells,  groans,  cat-calls, 
and  every  insulting  menace  and  threat,  he  read  aloud,  so  that  it 
was  heard  above  the  infernal  din,  a  letter  informing  him  that  if 
he  dared  to  speak  he  would  be  maltreated. 

"  The  Senator's  biographer,  Mr.  Sheahan,  said  subsequently: 
The  motive,  the  great  ruling  reason,  for  refusing  him  the  privi- 
lege of  being  heard,  was  that,  as  he  had  in  1850  carried  the 
judgment  of  the  people  captive  into  an  indorsement  of  the  fugi- 
tive slave  law,  so,  if  allowed  to  speak  in  1854,  he  would  at  least 
rally  all  Democrats  to  his  support  by  his  defense  of  the  Nebraska 
bill.  The  combined  fanatics  of  Chicago  feared  the  power  and 
effect  of  his  argument  in  the  presence  and  hearing  of  the  people. 
They  therefore  resolved  that  he  should  not  be  heard." 

There  has  also  always  been  a  question  as  to  whether,  on 
this  occasion,  Senator  Douglas  was  made  to  suffer  the  indignity 
of  being  pelted  with  rotten  eggs  or  rotten  apples.     Before  his 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  9 1 

death,  "Uncle"  Dan  O'Hara  insisted  that  rotten  apples  were 
thrown,  while  Gov.  Bross  declares  no  missiles  were  thrown. 

Many  old  settlers  who  were  present  at  the  meeting  delight 
to  relate  how,  at  the  height  of  the  disturbance,  Isaac  Cook,  who 
was  Sheriff  of  Cook  county  in  1846,  and  subsequently  served 
two  terms  as  postmaster,  and  was  well  known  for  his  earnestness 
and  warm  friendship  for  Douglas,  leaned  over  the  edge  of  the 
platform  and,  in  a  highly  excited  and  dramatic  manner,  ex- 
claimed : 

"  Fellow  Citizens  :  Truth  skrushed  to  earth  will  rise  again. 
You  can't  stop  her,  by  G !" 

In  an  article  published  in  the  Chicago  Tribune,  August  25, 
187/,  Ex-Gov.  Bross  made  reply  to  some  of  the  strictures  con- 
tained in  the  Times  article  already  quoted.  He  says  of  the 
attitude  of  the  Chicago  Democratic  press  and  public  feeling,  as 
he  observed  it : 

"  On  Tuesday  morning  before  the  meeting  I  published  a 
statement  of  the  programme  of  the  Democracy,  and  told  our 
liberty-loving  citizens  how  to  prevent  its  accomplishment.  It 
was  determined  by  the  Democracy  to  fill  North  Market  hall  at 
an  early  hour  with  the  rabble,  thus  preventing  other  people  from 
gaining  admittance,  pass  resolutions  strongly  indorsing  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  Senator  Douglas,  and  have 
that  go  out  as  the  opinion  of  the  people  of  Chicago.  The  sub- 
stantial and  order-loving  people  were  urged  to  turn  out  early, 
and  thus  defeat  the  schemes  of  the  political  tricksters.  Mr. 
Douglas'  friends,  knowing  that  this  advice  would  be  strictly  fol- 
lowed, changed  their  plan,  and  built  a  platform  in  front  of  the 
south  door  of  the  North  Market  hall.  The  meeting  was  an 
immense  one,  perhaps  the  largest  up  to  that  evening  ever  held  in 
the  city.  We  then  had  no  shorthand  reporters  here,  and, 
unwilling  to  trust  any  one  else — as  only  anxious  to  give  as 
correct  a  version  of  the  speech  as  possible — I  went  there  myself 
to  report  it.  I  was  at  once  invited  upon  the  stage,  perhaps  by 
Mayor  Milliken,  who  presided,  and,  receiving  a  pleasant  greeting 
from  Senator  Douglas,  I  sat  down  and  composed  myself  for  the 
work  before  me.  The  very  first  sentence  he  uttered  was  con- 
sidered an  insult  to  the  people  and  the  press  of  the  city.  He 
charged  them  with  not  understanding  so  plain  a  proposition  as 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  press  with  per- 
sistently misrepresenting  and  maligning  him.  The  statement 
was  received  with  groans  and  hisses,  and  for  perhaps  two  or  three 
minutes  nothing  else  could  be  heard.     When  comparative  quiet 


92  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

was  restored,  he  spoke  for  perhaps  eight  or  ten  minutes,  and 
then  the  laughing  and  hooting  were  repeated.  This  thoroughly 
enraged  the  Senator,  and  his  language  and  manner  became 
exceedingly  offensive.     *     *      * 

"The  question  recurs,  Was  there  a  mob  on  the  evening  of 
the  i st  of  September,  1854,  to  prevent  Judge  Douglas  from 
making  a  speech  on  his  Kansas-Nebraska  bill — otherwise,  his 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  ?  If  you  define  a  mob  to  be 
an  angry  crowd  of  men,  who  use  missiles,  or  destroy  property, 
maim  and  injure  their  opponents,  perhaps  kill  them,  then  I  assert 
positively  that  there  was  no  mob  in  Chicago  on  that  evening, 
and  thousands  of  our  citizens  who  were  there  will  cordially 
indorse  what  I  say  on  the  subject  There  was  not  a  rotten  egg, 
a  rotten  apple,  or  anything  else  whatever  thrown  at  any  one  on 
the  stage  during  the  entire  meeting.  I  was  there  during  the 
whole  time  till  Douglas  left,  except  a  minute  or  two,  as  above 
stated,  when  I  was  circulating  among  the  people  to  see  if  they 
were  in  good  humor.  Had  any  missiles  been  thrown,  I  certainly 
would  have  known  it." 

The  Democratic  press  printed  an  article  on  the  Monday 
following  the  meeting,  from  which  Gov.  Bross  quoted  the 
following  sentences  : 

"  Mr.  Douglas  came  before  his  constituents — those  who  had 
made  him,  who  had  intrusted  to  him  the  execution  of  certain 
duties — rather  as  a  master  than  a  servant.  The  spirit  of  a 
dictator  flashed  out  from  his  eyes,  curled  upon  his  lip,  and 
mingled  its  cold  irony  in  every  tone  of  his  voice,  and  every 
gesture  of  his  body.  His  manner,  as  well  as  his  language,  fur- 
nished a  practical  illustration  of  the  possibility  of  reversing  the 
natural  order  of  master  and  servant,  of  representative  and  con- 
stituent, in  a  free  government.  The  Czar  of  Russia  could  not 
have  exhibited  a  more  domineering  and  intolerant  spirit  than  he." 

Senator  Douglas  finally  gave  up  the  effort  to  make  himself 
heard,  and,  enraged  and  aggrieved,  he  entered  his  carriage  and 
started  for  the  Tremont  House,  the  hoodlum  element  of  the 
crowd  following,  hooting  at  and  reviling  him,  until  the  bridge- 
tender  at  Clark  street  bridge  opened  the  draw  behind  the  re- 
treating carriage,  and  shut  off  the  noisy  and  riotous  pursuers. 
Subsequently  Senator  Douglas  was  invited  by  his  political  friends 
to  partake  of  a  public  dinner,  and  on  the  9th  of  November 
some  two  hundred  of  his  staunch  adherents  sat  at  the  festive 
board,  while  in  response  to  a  complimentary  toast,  he  made  an 
address  which  embodied  substantially  the  same  points  that  he 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  93 

desired  to  get  before  the  people  in  September,  had  he  then  been 
allowed  to  speak.  An  election  was  pending  for  Congressman  and 
State  Treasurer,  and  he  spoke  at  most  of  the  principal  towns  in 
Northern  Illinois,  and  in  a  number  he  met  with  a  repetition  of 
the  interruption  and  insult  he  had  experienced  in  Chicago  ;  but 
he  held  his  ground,  forced  a  hearing,  and  soon  came  into  public 
favor  once  more.  In  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of 
1856  he  was  again  placed  in  nomination  for  the  Presidency,  and 
received  121  votes,  but  he  declined  to  make  further  contest,  and 
his  name  was  withdrawn,  and  the  nomination  given  to  Mr. 
Buchanan.  It  was  not  alone  from  anti-slavery  enemies  that  he 
received  bitter  opposition.  By  attacking  certain  measures  in 
which  Mr.  Buchanan  was  interested,  he  aroused  the  animosity  of 
the  President,  and  a  coalition  was  formed  between  friends  of 
Buchanan  and  the  Abolitionists  to  defeat  his  re-election  to  the 
Senate,  and  return  Abraham  Lincoln  instead.  Douglas  was  re- 
elected, however,  by  a  majority  of  eight  votes,  after  a  close  and 
exciting  struggle.  In  this  same  year  Douglas  denounced,  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate,  the  Harper's  Ferry  outbreak,  and  charged 
the  Republican  party  with  having,  if  not  instigated,  at  least 
abetted  it.  This  was  his  last  expression  of  sympathy  with  his 
old  pro-slavery  friends  and  adherents.  In  the  famous  Charleston 
convention  of  i860  he  was  a  prominent  candidate,  and  after  the 
convention  had  gone  to  pieces,  the  faction  which  reassembled  at 
Baltimore  nominated  him  for  President  on  the  second  ballot,  he 
having  received  180^  votes  out  of  194^  votes  cast.  In  the 
ensuing  election  he  received,  next  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  highest 
popular  vote. 

Senator  Douglas  arrived  in  Chicago  from  Washington  on 
the  evening  of  May  1,  1861.  His  patriotic  indorsement  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  policy  and  devotion  to  the  Union,  as  exemplified  by  his 
famous  Springfield  speech,  made  him  the  first  ideal  orator  of  the 
rebellion  and  the  idol  of  the  people.  A  committee  of  citizens 
met  him  at  Joliet,  and  a  great  throng  of  people  cheered  his 
entrance  to  the  city.  He  was  welcomed  by  the  Hon.  Thomas  B. 
Bryan  on  behalf  of  the  people,  and  a  salute  of  thirty-four  guns 
was  fired  in  his  honor  as  he  was  escorted  to  the  old  Wigwam, 
which  had  been  re-named  National  hall,  and  where,  before  an 
audience  of  ten  thousand  loyal  citizens,  he  repeated  the  substance 
of  his  Springfield  address.  This  was  his  last  public  speech. 
Death  seized  him  when  the  truly  great  work  of  his  life  began 
and  his  services  were  most  needed.  He  died  at  9:10  o'clock,  on 
the  morning  of  June  3,  1861,  of  acute  rheumatism,  the  malady 


94  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

from  which  he  had  long  been  a  sufferer,  and  which  had  assumed 
a  typhoid  type,  accompanied  by  blood  poisoning.  His  body 
lay  in  state  in  Bryan  Hall,  in  charge  of  a  Masonic  guard  of 
honor,  until  the  day  of  the  funeral,  and  upward  of  50,000  people 
did  honor  to  the  remains  of  the  dead  statesman  in  the  interval. 
The  entire  city  was  draped  with  mourning  emblems.  Mayor 
Rumsey  issued  a  proclamation  requesting  a  general  suspension 
of  business  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  and  the  Common 
Council  made  an  appropriation  of  $2,000  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  the  funeral,  it  having  been  the  desire  of  Mrs. 
Douglas  originally  to  have  the  remains  interred  in  the  Con- 
gressional cemetery  at  Washington.  Subsequently,  at  the 
united  request  of  the  Common  Council  and  committees  repre- 
senting the  city  and  the  state,  Mrs.  Douglas  readily  changed 
her  views,  and  on  June  7  the  remains  were  placed  upon  a 
stately  funeral  car,  and,  accompanied  by  a  funeral  procession  in 
ten  divisions,  in  which  were  noted  statesmen  representing  nearly 
every  state  in  the  Union,  they  were  borne  to  a  site  onthe  late 
Senator's  own  estate,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  at  the  foot 
of  Douglas  avenue,  and  interred  where  he  had  designed  to  build 
a  home,  within  sight  of  the  university  which  bears  his  name,  and 
which  now  is  marked  by  a  stately  monument,  erected  at  a  cost  of 
$96,350,  most  of  which  was  appropriated  by  the  state. 

It  is  a  labor  involving  more  than  simple  research  to  attempt 
an  analysis  of  men's  characters  by  their  deeds,  or  by  what  has 
been  written  of  them.  Those  acquainted  personally  with  Lincoln 
and  Douglas  have,  by  relating  instances  of  the  many  splendid 
qualities  of  these  great  men,  enriched  a  vast  field  of  anecdote, 
reminiscence  and  historical  knowledge,  which  will  be  plowed  over 
by  many  future  Americans  who  will  respect  and  admire  the 
genius,  patriotism  and  true  nobility  of  soul  that  distinguished  the 
two  statesmen.  Douglas  was  bold,  full  of  fire,  aggressive  and 
inspiring;  Lincoln  calm,  cautious,  logical  and  convincing.  He 
mastered  every  difficulty  and  grasped  every  situation,  no  matter 
how  perplexing,  that  confronted  him  during  his  career,  and  there 
was  no  issue  during  the  war  that  he  had  not  foreseen  and 
carefully  considered.  September  13,  1862,  the  Rev.  W.  W. 
Patton  and  the  Rev.  John  Dempster  presented  to  President 
Lincoln  a  memorial  urging  him  to  proclaim  emancipation,  which 
had  been  adopted  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  Christian  men  of 
Chicago,  September  8.  The  memorial  declared  that  the  time 
had  at  length  arrived  of  which  Jefferson  had  solemnly  warned 
his  countrymen,  when  he  declared  that  the  slaves  of  America 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  95 

were  enduring-  bondage,  one  hour  of  which  was  fraught  with 
more  misery  than  ages  of  that  which  occasioned  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  and  added,  "  When  the  measure  of  their  tears  shall 
be  full  ;  when  their  tears  shall  have  involved  heaven  itself  in 
darkness,  doubtless  a  God  of  justice  will  awaken  to  their  distress, 
by  diffusing  a  light  and  liberality  among  their  oppressors,  or  at 
length,  by  his  exterminating  thunder,  manifest  his  attention  to 
things  of  this  world,  and  that  they  are  not  left  to  the  guidance  of 
blind  fatality."  The  memorialists  declared  as  their  solemn  con- 
viction that  there  could  be  no  deliverance  from  Divine  judgment 
until  slavery  ceased  to  exist  in  the  land.  The  President  was 
urged,  therefore,  as  the  head  of  this  Christian  nation,  as  the 
only  means  of  preserving  the  Union,  to  proclaim,  without  delay, 
National  Emancipation. 

In  their  report  to  an  assembly  of  citizens  at  Bryan  hall, 
September  20,  the  emissaries  related  that  the  President  had  lis- 
tened to  the  reading  of  the  memorial  courteously  and  with  fixed 
attention,  and  in  reply  had  said  : 

'■  The  subject  presented  in  the  memorial  is  one  upon  which 
I  have  thought  much  for  weeks  past,  and  I  may  say  even  for 
months.  I  am  approached  with  the  most  opposite  opinions  and 
advice,  and  that  by  religious  men  who  are  equally  certain  they 
represent  the  Divine  will.  I  am  sure  that  either  the  one  or  the 
other  class  is  mistaken  in  that  belief,  and  perhaps  in  some  res- 
pects both.  I  hope  it  will  not  be  irreverent  for  me  to  say  that 
if  it  is  probable  that  God  would  reveal  His  will  to  others  on  a 
point  so  connected  with  my  duty,  it  might  be  supposed  He 
would  reveal  it  directly  to  me.  For,  unless  I  am  more  deceived 
in  myself  than  I  often  am,  it  is  my  earnest  desire  to  know  the 
will  of  Providence  in  this  matter,  and  if  I  can  learn  what  it  is  I 
will  do  it.  But  what  good  would  a  proclamation  of  emancipation 
do  from  me?  Would  my  word  free  the  slave,  when  I  cannot 
even  enforce  the  Constitution  in  the  rebel  States?  *  *  *  I 
suppose  I  have  a  right  to  take  any  measure  that  would  best 
subdue  the  enemy.  Nor  do  I  urge  objections  of  a  moral  nature, 
in  view  of  possible  consequences  of  insurrection  and  massacre 
at  the  South  ;  I  view  the  matter  as  a  practical  war  measure,  to  be 
decided  upon  according  to  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  it 
may  offer  to  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion." 

The  Committee  replied  that  the  virus  of  secession  was  found 
only  where  was  found  the  virus  of  slavery,  and  there  was  the 
amplest  reason  for  expecting  to  divert  the  divine  judgment  by 
putting  away  the  sin.      It  would    secure  the  sympathy  of  the 


9^  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

whole  civilized  world  ;  would  thrill  every  patriotic  heart  in  the 
North,  giving  the  people  a  glorious  principle  for  which  to  fight 
and  to  suffer,  and  give  us  both  laborers  and  soldiers. 

The  President  admitted  these  points  in  the  main,  and  said  : 

"  Do  not  misunderstand  me  because  I  have  mentioned  my 
objections.  I  have  not  decided  against  a  proclamation  of  liberty 
to  the  slaves,  and  I  can  assure  you  the  subject  is  in  my  mind  by 
day  and  night  more  than  any  other.  Whatever  appears  to  be 
God's  will,  that  I  will   do." 

President  Lincoln  more  fully  answered  the  petition  by  his 
subsequent  acts,  and  by  his  utterances  later  on  in  the  contest. 
Under  date  of  April  4,  1864,  writing  from  the  Executive  Man- 
sion at  Washington,  to  A.  G.  Hodges,  Esq.,  of  Frankfort,  Ky., 
he  said  : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  You  ask  me  to  put  in  writing  the  sub- 
stance of  what  I  stated  the  other  day  in  your  presence,  to  Gov- 
ernor  Bramlette,  and  Senator  Dixon.      It  was  about  as  follows  : 

"  I  am  naturally  anti-slavery.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  noth- 
ing is  wrong.  I  cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  so  think  and 
feel;  and  yet  I  have  never  understood  that  the  Presidency  con- 
ferred upon  me  an  unrestricted  right  to  act  officially  upon  this 
judgment  and  feeling  It  was  in  the  oath  I  took  that  I  would  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  preserve,  protect  and  defend  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.  I  could  not  take  the  office  without 
taking  the  oath.  *  *  *  I  understood,  too,  that  in  ordinary 
civil  administration  this  oath  even  forbade  me  to  practically  in- 
dulge my  primary  abstract  judgment  and  feeling  on  slavery.  I  did 
understand,  however,  that  my  oath  to  preserve  the  Constitution 
to  the  best  of  my  ability,  imposed  upon  me  the  duty  of  preserv- 
ing, by  every  indispensable  means,  that  Government,  that  Nation, 
of  which  the  Constitution  was  the  organic  law." 

In  his  second  inaugural  address  occurred  these  passages  : 

"  Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude  or  the 
duration  which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither  anticipated  that 
the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease  even  before  the  conflict 
itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph,  and  a 
result  less  fundamental  and  astounding.  Both  read  the  same 
Bible  and  prayed  to  the  same  God,  and  each  invoked  His  aid 
against  the  other. 

"  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  man  should  dare  to  ask  a 
just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of 
other  men's  faces.  But  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged. 
The  prayer  of  both  should  not  be  answered — that  of  neither  has 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS. 


97 


been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty  has  his  own  purposes. 
*  *  *  Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this 
mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away  ;  yet,  if  God 
wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondmen's 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid 
by  another  drawn  with  the  sword — as  was  said  three  thousand 
years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  that  the  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether." 

From  1846  to  1857  the  government  of  the  City  of  Chicago 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Democrats,  with  the  single  excep- 
tion of  the  year  1855,  when  the  American  party  or  "  Know-noth- 
ings," nominated  and  elected  Dr.  Levi  D.  Boone,  formerly  a 
Democrat,  as  Mayor.  Charles  M.  Gray  occupied  the  executive 
chair  during  the  eighteenth  term  of  the  Mayoralty,  having  been 
elected  on  the  Democratic  ticket  March  14,  1853.  He  was 
essentially  a  business  man  and  made  no  personal  effort  to  enter 
or  remain  in  politics.  He  was  a  native  of  New  York,  arriving  in 
Chicago  in  1834,  and  engaging  soon  after  in  the  manufacture  of 
grain  cradles.  Later,  he  became  associated  with  Cyrus  McCor- 
mick  in  the  manufacture  of  reapers,  and  was  also  engaged  in 
business  as  a  wholesale  grocer,  and  at  a  still  later  date  was  the 
assistant  general  freight  agent  of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan 
Southern   Railroad. 

In  1854  the  opposition  to  the  Democrats  centered  upon 
Amos  G.  Throop  for  Mayor,  who  was  nominated  in  a  harmonious 
convention,  and  whose  election  was  confidently  looked  for.  The 
Democratic  City  Convention  placed  in  nomination  Isaac  L.  Mil- 
liken,  a  self-made  and  popular  man,  and  he  was  elected  by  a  de- 
cisive majority,  March  15,  1854.  Mayor  Milliken  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Chicago,  and  for  several  years  following  his 
arrival  in  the  city  he  followed  the  trade  of  blacksmithing.  Be- 
sides being  industrious  he  was  ambitious,  and  he  put  in  his  spare 
time  in  study,  and  gained  some  knowledge  of  law.  He  was  twice 
elected  a  member  of  the  Common  Council,  and  from  1852  to 
1854  served  as  assistant  County  Judge.  His  administration  of 
the  office  of  Mayor  was  satisfactory  to  his  party  and  he  was  re- 
nominated in  1855,  but  was  defeated.  In  i856he  became  Police 
Magistrate  and  served  in  that  capacity  for  many  years. 

Dr.  Levi  D.  Boone,  his  successful  opponent,  was  elected,  as 
has  been  shown,  on  the  American,  or  Know-nothing  ticket,  March 
8,  1S55.  This  election  occurred  at  the  height  of  a  strong  local 
feeling  in  favor  of  a  stringent  temperance  law  passed  by  the  State 

7 


98  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Legislature  the  preceding  winter,  and  which  was  to  be  submitted 
to  the  people  for  adoption  or  rejection.  Dr.  Boone  believed  the 
act  would  be  ratified,  and  he  was  confident  also  that  trouble  would 
ensue  in  Chicago  over  the  enforcement  of  its  provisions.  Feel- 
ing that  he  understood  the  situation  and  could  put  the  law  in 
force  by  easy  stages,  thereby  avoiding  the  difficulties  that  it  ap- 
peared were  likely  to  arise,  he  allowed  the  American  party  to  use 
his  name  and  readily  accepted  the  nomination.  He  did  this  the 
more  readily  because  he  felt  confident  of  his  own  election.  Al- 
though his  opponent,  Mr.  Milliken,  had  defeated  a  popular  man, 
Amos  G.  Throop,  the  year  previous,  and  was  the  choice  of  the 
Democrats  for  re-nomination,  Dr.  Boone  believed  that  he  would 
get  enough  Democratic  votes  along  with  the  Know-nothing  vote 
to  give  him  a  substantial  majority,  and  in  this  he  was  not  mis- 
taken, as  the  result  of  the  election  showed.  The  contest  was  an 
exciting  one  and  the  discord  and  animosity  aroused  continued  to  ex- 
ist for  many  years  thereafter.  Aside  from  the  temperance  issue 
the  Catholic  question  was  being  discussed  with  so  much  vigor  and 
intensity  of  feeling  as  almost  to  precipitate  a  religious  war.  The 
watchword  of  the  American  party  was,  "  Put  none  but  Americans 
on  guard."  A  staunch  organ  of  the  American  ticket  was  the 
Native  Citizen,  a  newspaper  conducted  by  W.  W.  Danenhower, 
who  became  an  elector  on  the  Fillmore  ticket  with  Dr.  Boone, 
in  1856.  The  "Know-nothings"  were  opposed  to  foreigners 
holding  office,  and  the  Native  Citizen  published  a  list  of  names 
of  persons  classed  in  this  category,  among  them  Philip  A.  Hoyne, 
and  others  equally  as  prominent.  Mr.  Danenhower  was  the 
father  of  Lieutenant  Danenhower,  of  Arctic  expedition  fame  of 
1882.  His  paper  ceased  to  exist  after  the  defeat  of  Fillmore 
the  following  year. 

A  full  "  Know-nothing"  Council  was  elected  alone  with  Dr. 
Boone.  One  of  Mayor  Boone's  first  acts  after  induction  to  office 
was  to  recommend  to  the  Council  that  the  license  fee  be  raised 
from  $50  per  annum  to  the  rate  of  $300  per  annum,  but  that  no 
license  be  issued  for  a  longer  period  than  three  months.  This 
he  believed  to  be  a  wise  measure  of  precaution,  since  it  would 
root  out  all  the  lower  class  of  dives,  and  leave  the  business  in  the 
hands  of  the  better  class  of  saloon-keepers,  who,  when  the  tem- 
perance law  should  go  into  force,  could  be  rationally  dealt  with. 
The  saloon  element,  however,  believed  Mayor  Boone  to  be  the 
arch  representative  of  Know-nothing  ideas,  and  that  they  were  to 
be  deprived  of  rights  which  they  claimed  were  guaranteed  to 
them  by  the  Constitution,  and  they  united  to  defeat  the  object  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  99 

the  ordinance.  They  sent  agitators  among  the  people  and  soon 
the  North  side,  where  citizens  of  German  birth  and  descent 
were  in  the  preponderance,  was  in  a  ferment.  The  "personal 
liberty "  cry  was  raised,  and  all  foreigners  were  besought  by 
ignorant  leaders  to  resist  the  law  and  its  executors  in  defence  of 
their  liberties.  There  was  a  law  prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquor  on 
Sunday  on  the  municipal  statute  books,  but  it  had  been  a  dead 
letter  for  some  years.  The  temperance  leaders  attempted  to  re- 
vive this  law  and  secure  its  enforcement,  and  this  fanned  the  fire 
of  resentment  into  a  flame  of  open  revolt.  Mayor  Boone  had 
not.  been  in  office  but  a  few  weeks  when  nearly  two  hundred 
saloon-keepers  were  arrested,  and  some  jailed  and  others  held  in 
bail  for  trial,  charged  either  with  selling  liquor  without  license, 
or  violation  of  the  Sunday  ordinance.  The  saloon-keepers 
banded  together  and  employed  one  attorney  to  represent  them, 
and  between  this  attorney  and  the  City  Attorney  it  was  agreed 
to  try  one  test  case,  as  a  precedent  for  all.  This  case  came  up 
for  trial  April  21,  at  10  o'clock  before  Police  Magistrate  Henry 
L.  Rucker,  whose  office  was  in  the  Court  House.  While  the 
case  was  on  hearing  a  mob  of  several  hundred  half  drunken  men, 
led  by  the  balance  of  the  saloon-keepers  under  bonds,  with  a  fife 
and  drum  at  their  head,  marched  into  the  Court  House,  evidently 
determined  upon  intimidating  the  Justice.  After  a  scene  of 
great  disorder  the  mob  withdrew  and  made  a  stand  at  the  corner 
of  Clark  and  Randolph  streets  and  obstructed  traffic  on  both 
thoroughfares.  The  police  force  at  that  time  numbered  less  than 
one  hundred  men.  C.  P.  Bradley  was  Chief  of  Police,  Luther 
Nichols  Captain,  and  Darius  Knight  City  Marshal.  When  it 
appeared  as  if  the  inflamed  mob  intended  to  do  damage  to  prop- 
erty Captain  Nichols  hurried  to  Mayor  Boone  for  orders.  The 
Mayor  directed  him  to  clear  the  streets  and  disperse  the  mob  at 
all  hazards.  The  police  charged  the  mob  ;  dispersed  it  without 
any  fatalities,  and  made  several  arrests. 

The  main  body  of  the  mob  returned  to  the  North  side  and  the 
leaders  began  organizing  a  more  formidable  body  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  rescuing  the  prisoners  in  the  custody  of  the  police. 
To  be  prepared  for  an  emergency  Mayor  Boone  swore  in  one 
hundred  and  fifty  extra  policemen,  and  therefore  had  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men  at  his  command. 

At  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  mob  again  started  for  the 
South  side,  and  in  crossing  Clark  street  bridge  divided  into  two 
divisions.  The  bridge-tender,  when  one  wing  had  crossed  over, 
swung  the  bridge  open  and  kept  the  other  division  at  bay  on  the 


IOO  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

North  side.  He  was  soundly  reviled  for  this  action  and  the  mob 
threatened  to  fire  on  him  if  the  bridge  was  not  closed  instanter, 
but  he  calmly  replied  that  he  was  acting  under  the  Mayor's  or- 
ders and  could  not  close  the  bridge.  After  he  had  perfected  a 
few  details  and  ordered  the  police  into  position,  Mayor  Boone 
sent  word  to  close  the  bridge.  When  it  was  closed  the  mob 
swarmed  across,  joined  their  comrades  on  Clark  street  and  pro- 
ceeded toward  the  Court  House.  At  Lake  street  the  police 
wheeled  into  Clark  and  presented  a  solid  front  to  the  rioters. 
The  mob  charged  the  officers  fearlessly,  crying,  "  Pick  out  the 
stars  !"  "  Shoot  the  police  !"  and  a  brisk  fire  ensued.  Many  of 
the  rioters  were  wounded  and  one  killed,  and  several  of  the 
policemen  received  wounds  more  or  less  serious.  One  active 
German  leader  of  the  mob  leveled  a  shot-gun  at  officer  Hunt 
and  blew  off  his  left  arm.  Sheriff  Andrews,  who  saw  the  act, 
directed  a  young  man  named  Frazer  to  return  the  fire,  and  he 
did  so,  and  dropped  his  man.  Subsequently  friends  of  the  riot- 
ers had  Frazer  arrested  for  the  shooting,  but  he  was  acquitted. 
At  Mayor  Boone's  suggestion  the  City  Council  voted  officer 
Hunt  $3,000,  and  for  over  thirty  years  since  the  riot  he  has  been 
detailed  for  special  duty,  being  now  in  charge  of  the  show  licen- 
ses in  the  Comptroller's  office.  The  riot  created  intense  excite- 
ment throughout  the  city,  and  the  military,  consisting  of  an 
Irish  company,  called  the  Montgomery  Guards,  and  a  battery  of 
two  guns,  was  called  out,  but  there  was  no  demand  for  their  ac- 
tive services.  The  prompt  action  of  the  Mayor  and  the  nerve 
of  the  police  had  cowed  the  mob  spirit,  and  beyond  an  occa- 
sional street  broil  peace  reigned,  and  the  laws  thereafter  were 
enforced. 

Mayor  Levi  D.  Boone  was  one  of  the  most  respected  and 
successful  citizens  of  Chicago.  He  was  born  in  1808  near  Lex- 
ington, Ky.  His  father  was  '  Squire"  Boone,  a  noted  Baptist 
minister  ;  his  mother  a  Virginia  woman,  and  he  was  a  grand- 
nephew  of  the  famous  frontiersman,  Daniel  Boone.  His  earliest 
recollections  were  of  Indian  warfare,  in  which  his  father,  who 
was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Horseshoe  Bend,  took  an  active  part. 
At  twenty-one  years  of  age  hegraduated  with  honors  from  Tran- 
sylvania Medical  University.  In  1829  he  removed  to  Edwards- 
ville,  111.,  and  subsequently  to  Hillsboro',  where  he  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1832  he  served  as  captain  of 
a  company  of  mounted  troops  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  in 
1836  removed  to  Chicago.  For  several  years  he  was  Western 
manager  of  a  life  insurance  company,  and  he  also  served  for  a 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  IOI 

number  of  years  as  city  physician,  and  his  services  in  this  capacity 
during  the  cholera  epidemic  of  1848,  were  invaluable.  Prior  to 
his  election  as  Mayor  he  served  three  successive  terms  as  a 
member  of  the  Common  Council.  He  was  the  first  man  in  Chi- 
cago to  advocate  private  bounty  as  an  inducement  to  men  to 
enlist  in  the  Federal  army  during  the  war,  and  made  a  proposition 
to  give  a  city  lot  or  a  farm  of  forty  acres  to  the  widow  of  the 
first  Chicago  volunteer  who  should  fall  in  defense  of  the  Union, 
and  the  widow  of  a  soldier  in  Colonel  Mulligan's  gallant  com- 
mand received  the  Boone  bounty.  During  the  existence  of  Camp 
Douglas  he  was  one  of  the  physicians  there.  He  was  also  a  trus- 
tee of  the  Chicago  University,  and  a  valued  member  and  patron 
of  the  Michigan  Avenue  Baptist  Church. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MAYOR    THOMAS    DYER THE     KANSAS    MOVEMENT FIRST    CHICAGO 

MEETING JOHN  WENTWORTH    THE    FIRST    REPUBLICAN    MAYOR 

HIS      PUBLIC     SERVICES MAYOR      JOHN     C.     HAINES WENT- 

WORTH'S    SECOND    TERM THE    WAR   EXCITEMENT MAYOR  JU- 
LIAN   S.    RUMSEY — A  VISIT  TO  BUCHANAN NEGRO  SUFFRAGE 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF   I  862 ARNOLD  AND  LOVEJOY. 

The  opposition  to  the  local  Democracy  having  experienced 
success  in  putting  a  former  Democrat  at  the  head  of  their  ticket 
in  1855,  tried  the  same  plan  in  1856,  nominating  Francis.  C.  Sher- 
man, who  had  been  elected  Mayor  as  a  Democrat  in  1841,  and 
who  still  retained  great  popularity.  Mr.  Sherman  was  nominated 
as  an  anti-Nebraska  Democrat,  in  the  hope  that  a  sentiment 
which  was  believed  to  hold  sway  over  a  majority  of  the  voters 
would  accrue  advantageously  to  the  ticket.  The  ticket  was  all 
American,  or  by  many  called  "  Know-nothing,"  except  Mr.  Sher- 
man, and  his  nomination  was  due  principally  to  the  efforts  of 
"  Long  John"  Wentworth,  who  gave  him  the  earnest  support  of 
the  Chicago  Daily  Democrat. 

The  nominee  of  the  Democratic  City  Convention  was  Thom- 
as Dyer,  an  old  and  respected  settler  of  Chicago,  and  prominent 
business  man.  The  support  of  Mr.  Sherman  lacked  cohesion, 
and  when  the  returns  were  counted  on  the  10th  of  March,  the 
Democrats  had  a  large  majority.  Mayor  Dyer  was  a  native  of 
Connecticut,  and  his  father  was  an  officer  of  the  Revolution. 
He  was  raised  as  a  farmer,  but  developed  business  proclivities, 
and  in  1835  he  moved  to  Chicago,  and  soon  engaged  in  general 
trade.  He  became  a  member  of  the  warehouse  firm  of  Wads- 
worth,  Dyer  &  Chapin,  one  of  the  first  warehouses  established 
in  the  city.  He  was  later  elected  a  director  of  the  Galena  and 
Chicago  Union  Railroad  ;  served  a  term  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture ;  and  was  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1848. 
He  died  at  Middletown,  Conn.,  June  6,  1862,  aged  57  years. 

From  1854  to  1857  Chicago  was  the  recognized  ceifter  in 
the  West  of  anti-slavery  sentiment,  and  in  1856  the  movement 
which  resulted  in  making  Kansas  a  free  State  radiated  from  this 
city.     One  of  the  first  and  most  enthusiastic  Kansas  meetings 

(102) 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  IO3 

was  held  in  the  Courthouse  square  on  the  evening  of  Saturday, 
May  31.  Under  the  following  spirited  headlines  the  Chicago 
Daily  Tribune  of  June  2  gave  an  account  of  the  meeting  : 

"  Illinois  Alive  and  Awake  !"  "  Ten  Thousand  Freemen  in 
Council!"  "Two  Thousand  Old  Hunkers  on  Hand!"  "Fif- 
teen Thousand  Dollars  Subscribed  for  Kansas  !  !  !" 

"  Norman  B.  Judd  presided,  and  made  the  opening  speech, 
and  he  was  followed  by  Francis  A.  Hoffman.  J.  C.  Vaughn,  in 
an  eloquent  speech,  presented  the  claims  of  Kansas  for  imme- 
diate relief,  and  offered  the  following  resolutions  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  people  of  Illinois  will  aid  the  freedom 
of  Kansas. 

"Resolved,  That  they  will  send  a  colony  of  five  hundred  actual 
settlers  to   that  territory,  and  provision  them  for  one  year. 

"Resolved,  That  these  settlers  will  invade  no  man's  rights, 
but  will  maintain  their  own. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  similar 
policy  to  the  people  of  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  ready  and 
willing  to  aid ;  and  also  a  thorough  concert  and  co-operation 
among  them,  through  committees  of  correspondence,  on  this 
subject. 

"Resolved,  That  an  executive  committee  of -seven,  viz.:  J. 
C.  Vaughn,  Mark  Skinner,  George  W.  Dole,  I.  N.  Arnold,  N. 
B.  Judd  and  E.  I.  Tinkham,  be  appointed,  with  full  powers  to 
carry  into  execution  these  resolutions. 

"Resolved,  That  Tuthill  King,  R.  M.  Hough,  C.  B.  Waite, 
J.  H.  Dunham,  Dr.  Gibbs,  J.  T.  Ryerson  and  W.  B.  Egan  be  a 
finance  committee  to  raise  and  distribute  material  aid." 

Peter  Page  seconded  the  resolutions,  and  they  were  adopted 
in  the  midst  of  a  tremendous  outburst  of  enthusiasm. 

W.  B.  Egan  made  an  eloquent  speech  addressed  to  his  Irish 
fellow  citizens,  which  aroused  their  enthusiasm  to  the  highest 
pitch. 

The  Kansas  speakers  were  Col.  James  H.  Lane  and  Mr. 
Hinman.  Col.  Lane,  who  was  considered  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable orators  of  his  time,  made  doubtless  the  most  effective 
and  ablest  effort  of  his  life,  and  it  is  unfortunate  that  no  authen- 
tic record  of  his  words  on  this  occasion  is  known  to  exist.  Some 
who  were  present  have  tried  to  preserve  a  portion  of  the  address 
in  the  following  extracts  : 

"  The  Missourians  poured  over  the  border  in  thousands, 
with  bowie  knives  in  their  boots,  their  belts  bristling  with  revol- 
vers, their  guns  upon  their  shoulders,  and  three  gallons  of  whisky 


104  POLITICS    AND    POLITIC*IANS, 

per  vote  in  their  wagons.  When  asked  where  they  came  from 
their  reply  was,  '  From  Missouri  ; '  when  asked,  '  What  are  you 
here  for?'  their  reply  was,  'Come  to  vote.'  If  any  one  should 
go  there  and  attempt  to  deny  these  things,  or  apologize  for  them, 
the  Missourians  would  spit  upon  him.  They  claim  to  own  Kan- 
sas, to  have  a  right  to  vote  there  and  to  make  its  laws,  and  to 
say  what  its  institutions  shall  be. 

"  For  the  blood  of  free  men  shed  on  the  soil  of  Kansas— 
for  the  blood  now  flowing  in  the  streets  of  Lawrence — for  every 
drop  which  has  been  shed  since  the  people  asked  to  be  admitted 
as  a  state,  the  Administration  is  responsible.  Before  God  and 
this  people  I  arraign  Frank  Pierce  as  a  murderer  ! 

"In  conclusion,  I  have  only  this  to  say  :  The  people  of 
Kansas  have  undying  faith  in  the  justice  of  their  cause — in  the 
eternal  life  of  the  truths  maintained  — and  they  ask  the  people  of 
Illinois  to  do  for  them  that  which  seems  for  them  just." 

The   Tribune  s  report  of  the  meeting  concluded  as  follows  : 

"  We  regret  we  can  only  give  a  meager  outline  of  the  elo- 
quent and  telling  effort  of  Col.  Lane.  *  *  *  Language  is 
inadequate  to  give  the  reader  a  conception  of  the  effect  of  the 
recital  of  that  tale  of  woe  which  men  from  Kansas  had  to  tell ; 
the  flashing  eyes,  the  rigid  muscles,  and  the  frowning  brows  told 
a  story  to  the  looker-on  that  types  cannot  repeat.  From  the  fact 
that  the  immense  crowd  kept  their  feet  from  eight  till  twelve 
o'clock,  that  even  then  they  were  unwilling  the  speakers  should 
cease,  or  that  the  contributions  should  stop  ;  from  the  fact  that 
working  men,  who  have  only  the  wages  of  the  day  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  day's  bread,  emptied  the  contents  of  theirpockets 
into  the  general  fund;  that  sailors  threw  in  their  earnings;  that 
widows  sent  up  their  savings  ;  that  boys  contributed  their  pence  ; 
that  those  who  had  no  money  gave  what  they  had  to  spare; 
that  those  who  had  nothing  to  give  offered  to  go  as  settlers 
and  do  their  duty  to  Freedom  on  that  now  consecrated  soil ;  that 
every  bold  declaration  for  liberty,  every  allusion  to  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1776,  and  to  the  possibility  that  the  battles  of  that  period 
were  to  be  fought  over  again  in  Kansas,  were  received  as  those 
things  most  to  be  desired.  *  *  *  Take  it  with  its  attending 
circumstances — the  shortness  of  the  notice,  the  character  of  the 
assembled  multitude,  and  the  work  which  was  accomplished — it 
was  the  most  remarkable  meeting  ever  held  in  the  State.  We 
believe  it  will  inaugurate  a  new  era  in  Illinois.  We  believe  it  is 
the  precursor  of  the  liberation  of  Kansas  from  the  hand  of  the 
oppressor,  and  of  an  all-pervading  political  revolution  at  home." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  IO5 

This  prediction  was  verified  as  a  true  one,  for,  during  the 
year  following,  the  Kansas  excitement  and  slavery  troubles  else- 
where were  moving  causes  resulting  in  the  extension  and  thor- 
ough organization  of  the  Republican  party.  John  Wentworth, 
publisher  and  editor  of  the  Chicago  Democrat,  who  had  for  many 
years  been  prominent  in  political  matters,  and  had  extended  his 
influence  in  local  affairs  by  his  cordial  support  of  Francis  C. 
Sherman,  as  an  anti-Nebraska  Democrat  for  Mayor  the  year  be- 
fore, was  made  the  nominee  for  Mayor  by  the  new  party,  against 
Mr.  Carver,  the  regular  Democratic  nominee,  and  was  elected 
upon  the  issues  involved  in  the  hastening  and  inevitable  National 
struggle.  The  ticket  was  styled  the  Republican-Fusion  ticket 
and  it  received  5,933  votes  to  4,132  votes  for  Carver,  the  Demo- 
cratic nominee;  Mr.  Wentworth's  majority  being  1,801.  The 
election,  which  took  place  March  3,  1857,  was  bitterly  contested, 
and  great  disorder  and  scenes  of  violence  prevailed  at  the  polls; 
the  rioting  resulting  in  the  killing  of  one  citizen  and  the  wound- 
ing  of  many  more.  Charles  Seifert,  a  respectable  German  citizen, 
having  a  wife  and  several  children,  was  killed  at  the  corner  of 
Division  and  Sedgwick  streets,  the  second  precinct  of  the  old 
Seventh  ward  ;  and  George  Armour,  a  prominent  citizen,  since 
deceased,  was  one  of  the  number  who  were  seriously  wounded 
in  the  first  precinct  of  the  same  ward,  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
Wells  and  Kinzie  streets.  In  his  inaugural  address,  delivered  at 
Metropolitan  hall,  March  10,  1857,  Mayor  Wentworth  deplored 
these  scenes  of  violence  and  condemned  the  lawlessness,  inter- 
ference with  voters  and  repeating,  which  it  was  charged  had  been 
prevalent  on  the  day  of  election.  He  said  :  The  continuance 
of  ruling  dynasties,  in  most  nations,  depends  upon  the  power  of 
a  mercenary  soldiery,  to  stifle  the  struggles  of  the  oppressed. 
Here  the  success  of  dynasties  depends  upon  the  purity  of  the 
ballot  box.  *  *  *  He  then,  who  deprives  one  of  his  fellow 
citizens  of  a  free  access  to  the  ballot  box,  deprives  him  of  one  of 
his  inalienable  rights,  and  acts  the  part  of  a  tyrant  and  an  op- 
pressor. And  he  who  votes,  not  having  the  right  to  vote,  or  is 
accessory  to  the  voting  of  others  who  have  no  such  rights,  per- 
petrates a  fraud  upon  his  countrymen,  and  strikes  a  blow  at  the 
only  safeguard  of  our  Republican  institutions — the  purity  of  the 
ballot  box. 

Respecting  the  political  policy  of  his  administration,  Mayor 
Wentworth  said  :  "  With  the  two  immediate  preceding  adminis- 
trations I  could  have  no  political  sympathy.  The  doctrines  of 
the  former  (American  or  Know-nothing)  would  proscribe  a  man 


106  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

for  the  unavoidable  accident  of  his  birthplace,  whilst  those  of 
the  latter  (pro-slavery)  would  proscribe  him  for  his  sympathy 
in  favor  of  free  labor.  As  foreign  labor  constitutes  the  great 
bulk  of  free  labor,  those  who  would  enfranchise  our  new  terri- 
tories favor  liberal  laws  toward  foreign  immigration.  Hence,  at 
our  recent  election  we  saw  the  ultra  '  Know-nothing,'  who  pro- 
fesses a  desire  to  proscribe  foreign  labor  as  the  competitor  of 
slave  labor,  and  the  ultra  pro-slavery  foreigner,  who  professes  a 
desire  to  proscribe  everything  in  the  shape  of  '  Know-nothingism/ 
voting  the  same  ticket.  Much  as  they  professed  to  be  opposed 
to  each  other,  the  friends  of  the  last  two  administrations  com- 
bined against  the  great  Democratic-Republican  reform  move- 
ment of  this  year."  Mayor  Wentworth  complained  that  the  city 
had  suffered  greatly  from  the  too  free  use  of  the  pardoning 
power  by  state  executives. 

In  respect  to  applicants  for  places  under  the  city  govern- 
ment, Mayor  Wentworth  said  he  should  receive  no  personal  or 
confidential  communications,  but  should  consider  all  as  public 
documents,  to  which  the  public  might  have  free  access.  The 
message  continued  in  this  connection  :  "  No  man  is  qualified  to 
attend  to  the  business  of  the  city  who  could  not  earn  the  amount 
of  his  salary  in  some  of  the  other  avocations  of  life.  *  *  * 
I  shall  labor  to  bring  into  the  service,  of  the  city  a  new  order  of 
men  ;  men  who  can  get  a  living  without  office  ;  men  who  will 
labor  for  reform  and  economy ;  men  who  will  not  be  afraid  to 
do  their  duty  lest  it  may  make  them  unpopular.  I  feel  as 
though  I  had  the  whole  city  to  select  from,  and  that  I  am  in- 
debted to  'principles  and  not  men'  for  my  election.  I  publicly 
told  our  citizens  before  election  that  if  any  man  supported  me 
with  the  expectation  of  getting  an  office  he  would  be  disap- 
pointed, as  no  man  while  in  office,  who  followed  office-seeking  as 
a  means  of  livelihood,  was  ever  known  to  recommend,  much  less 
carry  out,  a  reform.  *  *  *  I  shall  send  to  you,  in  a  few 
days,  nominations  for  all  the  offices.  Meanwhile,  I  hope  no  one 
will  embarrass  me  with  applications  for  himself  or  others.  I 
look  upon  all  my  fellow  citizens  as  candidates,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  but  I  can  find  as  good  men  as  we  ever  had,  who  will  be 
willing  to  accept  our  offices  at  much  reduced  salaries."  Appli- 
cants for  position  on  the  police  force  were  recommended  to 
apply  directly  to  the  Committee  on  Police,  and  the  message 
stated  that  it  was  important  that  all  members  of  the  police  force 
should  be  bona-fide  residents  of  the  city.  In  respect  to  public 
improvements,    the    message    continued :     "  I     recommend    the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  107 

paving  of  all  our  first-class  business  streets,  and  macadamizing 
the  others,  as  soon  as  the  Water  and  Sewerage  Commissioners 
have  finished  their  works  in  them.  The  materials  should  be 
provided  and  the  contracts  ready  to  be  let,  so  as  to  have  the 
paving  or  macadamizing  follow  closely  upon  the  abandonment  of 
the  streets  by  the  Commissioners  herein  referred  to.  The 
system  of  planking  our  streets  should  be  abandoned. 

"  The  same  change  is  necessary  in  our  sidewalks,  so  far  as 
relates  to  the  more  thickly-settled  portions  of  our  city.  And  so 
confident  am  I  that  plank  sidewalks  must  give  way  everywhere 
to  those  of  stone,  that  I  would  suggest  to  all  persons  who  are 
building  residences  or  stores  that  they  adopt  sidewalks  of  stone 
at  once." 

The  bad  condition  of  the  streets  was  dwelt  upon,  and  an 
appropriation  of  $500  for  each  ward,  to  better  their  condition, 
was  recommended,  and  Mayor  Wentworth  offered  to  loan  the 
city  $5,000,  without  interest,  to  be  applied  to  this  purpose, 
should  the  embarrassed  condition  of  the  treasury  be  deemed  an 
objection  to  the  appropriation.  In  respect  to  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  city,  the  message  was  as  follows  :  "  We  should  raise 
revenue  by  annual  taxation  to  meet  our  interest  and  pay  our 
annual  expenses,  and  we  should  not  borrow  any  -money  unless 
for  some  permanent  improvement,  which  will  carry  down  to  pos- 
terity visible  and  tangible  proofs  of  the  justness  of  the  debt  we 
have  saddled  upon  it. 

"  I  would  dislike  to  be  called  upon  to  point  out  to  posterity 
the  improvements  in  our  city  which  have  created  our  present  in- 
debtedness, and  especially  in  view  of  the  heavy  taxes  which  we 
have  been  annually  paying  ostensibly  for  them.  *  *  *  Our 
citizens  complained  greatly  and  very  justly  of  the  heavy  city 
taxes  necessary  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  administration 
ending  March,  1856.  The  taxes  to  meet  the  expenditures  of  the 
administration  ending  March,  1857,  which  are  to  be  collected  in 
1858,  will  have  to  be  higher  still.  Thus  any  advantage  arising 
from  measures  of  reform  this  year  will  not  be  experienced  until 
the  taxes  are  collected  in  1859.  By  reference  to  our  city  charter 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  Council  is  restricted  in  borrowing  to  an 
amount  not  exceeding  $100,000  in  any  one  year.  It  cannot 
pledge  the  revenue  of  the  city  for  the  payment  of,  nor  issue 
bonds  for,  a  larger  sum  than  this.  This  restriction  has  been 
looked  upon  by  preceding  Councils  as  an  injunction,  and,  so  far 
back  as  I  have  been  enabled  to  trace,  I  find  that,  in  addition  to 
the  annual  taxes,  the  Council   of  each  year  has  borrowed  and 


108  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

used  up  this  $100,000.  It  has  been  some  consolation  to  our 
citizens,  while  paying  their  high  taxes,  that  they  were  paying  for 
the  necessary  expenses  of  the  city  government.  Very  few  have 
known  that  $100,000  each  year  have  been  borrowed  in  addition 
to  the  proceeds  of  our  enormous  assessments  for  taxes,  and  this 
without  reference  to  our  water  and  sewerage  debts.  It  may  be 
said  that  this  $100,000  has  been  annually  expended  for  improve- 
ments. Yet  it  is  very  difficult  to  ascertain  where  the  improve- 
ments are  which  have  not  been  paid  for  by  assessments  or  by 
special  taxes  on  the  property  benefited.  I  have  examined  what 
purports  to  be  an  annual  statement  of  the  city's  finances.  From 
it  I  am  unable  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  our  indebtedness,  or 
how  much  the  Council  of  the  past  has  anticipated  the  revenue 
of  the  present  year.  Whether  the  administration  of  this  year 
shall  be  able  to  get  along  without  borrowing  the  $100,000  in  ad- 
dition to  the  taxes,  as  has  been  customary,  I  have  no  facts  from 
which  to  form  an  opinion.  One  of  the  Committee  on  Finance 
has  informed  me  that  he  refused  to  sign  the  annual  financial 
statement  for  the  past  year,  and  I  learn  that  it  was  made  up  by 
the  City  Clerk.  I  would  recommend  that  a  thorough  examina- 
tion of  our  financial  condition  be  immediately  set  on  foot,  not 
only  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  our  fellow  citizens,  but  that  the 
indebtedness  chargeable  to  preceding  administrations  be  not 
confounded  with  that  chargeable  to  this." 

Mayor  Wentworth  in  1857  introduced  the  first  steam  fire 
engine,  the  "  Long  John,"  and  in  i860,  during  his  second  admin- 
istration he  introduced  two  more,  the  "  Liberty"  and  the  "  Econ- 
omy." The  present  grade  of  the  city  was  established  during  his 
first  administration.  It  was  during  Mayor  Wentworth's  admin- 
istration, in  1857,  that  he  made  his  celebrated  raid  upon  "The 
Sands."  The  criminal  and  law  defying  classes  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  lake  shore  beach  on  the  North  side,  as  squatters,  and 
occupied  a  large  number  of  shanties,  which  were  the  scenes  of 
drunken  revels  and  bacchanalian  orgies  too  vicious  for  descrip- 
tion. The  police  by  order  of  the  Mayor  razed  these  domicils  to 
the  ground,  burning  many  and  clearing  "the  Sands"  of  their 
lawless  occupants,  the  while  the  Revenue  Cutter  Michigan  stood 
off  in  the  lake  ready  to  enforce  the  Mayor's  efforts  to  purify 
Uncle  Sam's  domain,  and  rid  the  city  of  a  plague  spot. 

Mr.  Wentworth  introduced  in  Congress  the  first  bill  ever 
drawn  in  favor  of  the  bonded  warehouse  system.  He  early  saw 
the  importance  of  this  question  and  knew  legislation  must  be 
devised  to  control  the  great  interests  involved.    February  1  7,  1 846, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS. 


IO9 


in  pursuance  of  previous  notice  he  asked  and  obtained  leave  to 
introduce  a  bill  (No.  241)  to  establish  the  warehousing  system, 
which  bill  was  read  the  first  and  second  times  and  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Commerce,  of  which  Mr.  Wentworth  was  a  mem- 
ber. The  other  members  of  the  committee  thought  action  ill- 
advised  at  that  time,  while  all  admitted  that  some  day  the  bill 
would  be  a  necessity  and  have  to  be  adopted.  Mr.  Wentworth 
did  not  cease  his  agitation  of  the  subject  until  the  bill  became  a 
law.  The  bonded  warehouse  system  now  in  vogue,  therefore, 
originated  in  Chicago,  and  it  stands  as  devised  by  Mr.  Went- 
worth, with  a  few  added  amendments. 

The  Hon.  John  Wentworth's  name  and  fame  are  not  con- 
fined to  Chicago.  His  great  force  of  character,  eminence  in 
public  life  and  the  many  public  services  he  has  rendered  are  mat- 
ters of  more  than  mere  local  record.  He  was  born  in  Sandwich, 
Strafford  county,  N.  H.,  March  5,  18 15,  his  father  being  the 
Hon.  Paul  Wentworth ;  his  mother  Lydia  (Cogswell)  Went- 
worth, and  his  paternal  grandfather  the  Hon.  John  Wentworth, 
Jr.,  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  from  New  Hampshire, 
whose  name  is  signed  to  the  original  "  Articles  of  Confederation." 
He  passed  his  early  youth  amid  the  sterile  surroundings  of  a 
New  Hampshire  farm,  and  later  attended  various  academies  in 
the  larger  towns  of  his  native  state,  where  he  developed  great 
oratorical  and  literary  ability.  In  the  winter  of  1831  he  taught 
school  and  in  the  fall  of  1832  he  entered  Dartmouth  College, 
graduating  therefrom  in  1836,  meantime  teaching  school  in  the 
winters.  After  graduating  from  Dartmouth  he  determined  to  go 
West,  and  he  landed  in  Chicago  October  25,  1836,  bearing  letters 
of  introduction  to  Governor  John  Reynolds,  of  Illinois,  and  Gov- 
ernor Henry  Dodge,  of  Wisconsin.  Accidentally  meeting  Mat- 
thew S.  Moloney,  then  of  the  leading  mercantile  house  of  Wild, 
Moloney  &  Co.,  formerly  of  Northfield,  N.  H.,  and  an  old  school- 
mate, that  gentleman  strongly  recommended  to  him  the  United 
States  Hotel — previously  the  Sauganash — kept  by  the  late  John 
Murphy,  afterward  well-known  as  an  Alderman  and  leading 
politician  of  the  city.  He  determined  upon  pursuing  the 
study  of  law,  and  made  the  necessary  arrangements  with 
Henry  Moore,  a  leading  lawyer,  whose  ill-health  required  him 
to  return  to  the  East,  where  he  died  of  consumption.  On 
November  23,  1836,  Mr.  Wentworth  was  induced  to  take 
editorial  charge  of  the  Chicago  Democrat.  'The  young  editor 
speedily  made  the  influence  of  the  paper  felt  in  National,  State 
and  local   politics,  and  through  its  medium  did  much  to  develop 


I  IO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

the  interests  of  Chicago  and  the  Northwest.  Within  three 
years  Mr.  Wentworth  had  purchased  the  paper,  paying  there- 
for $2,800,  which  he  had  earned  by  incessant  labor  and  rigid 
economy.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  election  of  Chicago's 
first  Mayor,  William  B.  Ogden,  and  was  the  secretary  of  the  first 
political  meeting  ever  called  in  the  old  First  Ward.  In  1837  he 
was  appointed  by  the  Council  the  first  corporation  printer  of 
Chicago,  and  in  1838  was  appointed  School  Inspector.  Mr. 
Wentworth  has  ever  been  one  of  the  most  persistent  advocates 
of  the  common-school  system  in  the  West.  In  1839  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  "  aids-de-camp  "  of  Governor  Carlin.  In  1840 
he  started  the  Daily  Democrat,  the  first  Democratic  daily  in  the 
Northwest.  In  the  fall  of  1841  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
in  May,  1843,  was  nominated  for  Congress  by  the  Democratic 
Convention  held  at  Joliet,  and  duly  elected,  and  was  re-nom- 
inated and  re-elected  until  he  had  served  twelve  years  in  Con- 
gress altogether.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Baltimore  National 
Convention  of  1844,  which  nominated  James  K.  Polk  for  the 
presidency  ;  also  of  that  of  1848,  which  nominated  General  Lewis 
Cass.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee  that  called  the  cele- 
brated National  River  and  Harbor  Convention  which  assembled 
at  Chicago  in  1847.  He  attended  the  inauguration  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  was  one  of  the  committee  to  receive  his  remains  at 
Chicago.  His  action  upon  the  slave  question,  and  change  from 
Democracy  to  Republicanism  was  thus  commented  upon  by  Zebina 
Eastman,  in  1857  :  "In  politics  Colonel  Wentworth  acted  with 
the  old-line  Democratic  party  ;  but  when  the  old  party  split  up, 
by  mak'ing  the  slavery  extension  question  a  test,  he  went,  with 
such  other  Democrats  as  Hamlin,  Wilmot,  King,  Trumbull,  Fre- 
mont, Blair,  and  others,  into  what  is  known  as  the  Republican 
movement."  He  was  a  vice-president  of  the  famous  Republican 
Convention  of  1880,  being  a  delegate  from  the  first  Illinois  dis- 
trict, but  he  among  other  delegates  was  ruled  out.  He  did  not 
cease  his  advocacy  of  Gen.  Grant  as  a  candidate,  however,  and 
was  a  recognized  leader  in  the  immortal  fight  of  the  "306"  for 
"  Ulysses  the  Silent."  Mr.  Wentworth  was  one  of  the  original 
stockholders  of  the  Chicago  &  Galena  Railroad,  and  continued 
one  of  its  most  urgent  supporters,  and  was  chairman  of  the  exec- 
utive committee  of  the  board  when  the  road  was  consolidated 
with  the  Northwestern.  He  has  also  been  one  of  the  financial 
pillars  of  the  First  National  Bank  for  many  years.  A  portrait  of 
Mr.  Wentworth  by  the  eminent  artist  John  Phillips,  hangs  on 
the  walls  of  the    Historical   Society,  and  a  life-sized  portrait  by 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  I  I 

George  P.  A.  Healey  adorns  the  parlors  of  the  Calumet  Club. 
Of  late  years  Mr.  Wentworth  has  given  his  close  attention  to  a 
magnificent  farm  estate  of  some  5,000  acres,  at  Summit,  Cook 
county,  and  while  he  has  lived  for  many  years  at  the  Sherman 
House,  he  considers  the  Summit  property  his  homestead.  Mr. 
Wentworth  stands  six  feet  six  inches  in  height,  which  accounts 
for  his  familiar  sobriquet,  "  Long  John,"  and  in  his  prime 
weighed  three  hundred  pounds.  At  76  years  of  age  he  is  still 
hale  and  hearty,  but  begins  to  show  the  inevitable  ravages  of 
time,  and  a  life  of  toil  and  activity. 

In  1858  the  Republican  nomination  to  the  Mayoralty  was 
deemed  equivalent  to  election,  and  Mr.  Wentworth  was  offered, 
but  declined,  renomination.  The  leaders  then  looked  elsewhere 
for  a  candidate,  and  selected  John  C.  Haines,  a  representative 
business  man,  who  had  served  as  Alderman  from  the  Fifth  Ward 
for  six  years,  and  who  was  elected  March  2,  1858,  and,  after 
serving  one  term  acceptably,  was  renominated  by  his  party,  and 
re-elected  March  i,  1859. 

John  C.  Haines  is  a  native  of  New  York  state,  having  been 
born  at  Deerfield,  May  26,  181 8.  When  but  seventeen  years 
old  he  came  to  Chicago,  entered  upon  commercial  pursuits,  and, 
by  industry  and  economy,  soon  attained  an  enviable  reputation 
and  a  comfortable  fortune.  In  1846  Mr.  Haines  became  associ- 
ated with  Jared  Gage  in  the  proprietorship  of  the  Chicago  Flour 
Mills.  This  enterprise  was  a  success.  In  1853  Mr.  Haines,  J. 
H.  Woodworth  and  George  W.  Dole  were  elected  Water  Com- 
missioners, and  during  their  term  of  office  the  present  water 
system  was  begun  and  completed.  During  his  term  in  the  City 
Council  his  business  interests  underwent  a  change  ;  he  dissolved 
partnership  with  Mr.  Gage,  and  was  made  President  of  the 
Illinois  Savings  Institution. 

In  1869  Mr.  Haines  was  chosen  as  a  member  of  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention.  In  1874  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate 
from  the  First  District,  and  he  served  in  the  Twenty-ninth  and 
Thirtieth  General  Assemblies.  Of  late  years  Mr.  Haines  has 
taken  no  active  part  in  politics,  but  has  devoted  himself  to  the 
manufacturing  and  financial  interests  with  which  he  is  identified. 

In  the  spring  of  i860  John  Wentworth  was  induced,  by  the 
political  exigencies  of  the  day,  to  become  a  candidate  for  Mayor 
for  a  second  time.  He  was  tendered  the  Republican  nomination 
unanimously,  accepted  it,  and  made  a  stirring  campaign,  and  was 
elected  by  a  majority  of  1,267  out  of  a  total  of  18,747  votes  cast. 
His  second  inaugural  address  was  delivered  before  the  Common 


I  I  2  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Council  and  citizens  at  Metropolitan  hall  on  the  evening  of 
March  22,  i860,  and  he  had  the  following  to  say  :  "  Gentlemen 
of  the  Common  Council :  The  chapter  of  the  Charter  of  the  City 
of  Chicago  which  requires  me  to  take  and  subscribe  to  the  oath 
of  office  just  administered  to  me,  defines  the  duties  of  the  Mayor 
as  follows  :  '  He  shall  preside  over  the  meetings  of  the  Common 
Council,  and  take  care  that  the  laws  of  the  state  and  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  city  are  duly  enforced,  respected  and  observed, 
and  that  all  other  executive  officers  of  the  city  discharge  their 
respective  duties.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  the  Common 
Council  such  information  and  recommend  such  measures  as  he 
may  deem  advantageous  to  the  city.'  There  are  many  laws  and 
ordinances  appertaining  to  our  municipal  government,  the  pro- 
priety of  which  may  be  questioned,  but  the  oath  of  office  which  I 
have  just  taken  requires  me  to  take  care  that  all  of  them  be  'duly 
enforced,  respected  and  observed.'  Furthermore,  I  am  required 
to  take  care  that  all  the  other  officers  of  the  city  discharge  their 
duties  in  causing  each  and  every  one  of  the  laws  and  ordinances 
to  be  'duly  enforced,  respected  and  observed.'  Chapter  II  of 
the  City  Charter  provides  for  the  removal  of  every  person  ap- 
pointed or  elected  to  any  office,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the 
Aldermen,  upon  good  cause  therefor  being  shown  ;  and  it  is  good 
cause  for  the  removal  of  any  man  when  he  takes  the  oath  which 
all  officers  are  compelled  to  take,  and  then  gives  no  attention  to 
plain  violations  of  the  city  laws  and  ordinances.  Such  an  officer 
perjures  himself,  and  ought  to  be  promptly  removed  therefor.  * 
*  *  A  large  number  of  the  city  officers  are  appointed  by  the 
Mayor.  I  shall  appoint  no  man  to  any  office,  nor  allow  him 
when  appointed  to  remain  in  any  office,  unless  he  can  read  and 
understand  the  laws  and  ordinances  appertaining  to  the  duties  of 
his  office,  and  unless  he  will  heartily  co-operate  with  me  in  taking 
care  that  the  laws  and  ordinances  be  'duly  enforced,  respected 
and  observed.'  It  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  executive  officers 
to  inquire  into  the  justice  or  expediency  of  any  law.  It  is 
enough  for  them  to  know  that  thus  saith  the  law.  Besides,  the 
best  way  to  bring  about  the  repeal  of  an  obnoxious  law  is  to 
enforce  it,  and  every  law  which  ought  not  to  be  or  cannot  be  en- 
forced, should  be  at  once  repealed.  Our  laws  should  be  few  in 
number  and  simple  in  language.  The  enactments  of  our  Legis- 
lature are  beyond  the  reach  of  this  Council,  but  I  recommend  a 
thorough  revision  of  our  city  ordinances  with  reference  to  this 
consideration.  I  am  not  a  candidate  for  re-election,  and  I 
recommend   that    at    the    next    session   of   our   Legislature  our 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  I  3 

charter  be  so  amended  as  to  make  the  Mayor  ineligible  to  an 
immediate  re-election.  This  is  now  the  case  with  the  Sheriff  of 
our  county  and  the  Marshal  of  our  city.  The  Mayor's  office  is 
not  the  place  for  any  man  who  desires  immediate  political  pre- 
ferment of  any  kind,  lest  the  desire  to  make  friends  and  the  fear 
to  make  enemies  prove  incentives  to  him  to  deviate  from  the 
peremptory  requirements  of  the  law.  The  Mayor  is  but  the 
right  arm  of  the  law,  and  there  should  be  nothing  of  human  am- 
bition to  paralyze  the  power  of  that  arm.  These  sentiments  are 
but  a  repetition  of  those  promulgated  in  my  inaugural  address 
of  1857,  and  which  controlled  my  action  whilst  in  office.  For  a 
long  period  of  the  time  during  which  I  have  been  a  resident  of 
Chicago,  the  party  with  which  I  was  politically  associated  was  in 
a  majority.  Yet,  during  that  time,  I  never  entertained  the  least 
desire  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Mayor,  inasmuch 
as  my  name  was  used  in  connection  with  other  offices.  I 
looked  upon  it  as  an  office  in  which  a  man  who  did  his  duty- 
stood  no  chance  to  make  friends,  but  was  sure  to  greatly 
multiply  the  number  of  his  opponents.  I  had  received,  at  five 
different  elections,  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people, 
and,  in  justice  to  others,  I  had  no  right  to  expect  any  further 
honors  in  that  direction  Having  finished  my  political  career, 
and  thus  being  in  a  situation  in  which  I  could  afford  to  act  inde- 
pendently and  set  at  defiance  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  which  was 
overrunning  the  city,  I  consented  to  take  the  office  of  Mayor. 
Remembering  my  oath  of  office,  I  at  once  set  myself  at  work  to 
enforce  all  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  the  city.  This  gave  great 
offence  to  a  class  of  voters  who  professed  to  entertain  peculiar 
notions  respecting  what  they  called  necessary  evils  in  large  cities, 
of  which  evils  they  themselves  were  not  only  conspicuous 
patrons,  but  often  large  beneficiaries.  They  censured  me  for 
executing  laws  which  they  dared  not  petition  to  have  repealed, 
and  which  should  now  be  repealed  if  they  cannot  or  ought  not 
be  enforced.  But,  nevertheless,  I  continued  to  enforce  the 
laws.  Portions  of  our  city  confiscated  to  vice  and  crime  were 
made  orderly  and  respectable,  and  are  now  inhabited  by  some  of 
our  most  law-abiding  citizens.  Gambling  houses,  brothels  and 
other  abodes  of  lawlessness  were  broken  up  and  their  inmates 
brought  to  justice  or  compelled  to  leave  the  city.  Many  of  these 
offenders,  thus  disturbed  by  an  honest  execution  of  long-existing 
laws,  were  persons  of  wealth,  talents  and  position.  They  had 
not  then  reached  that  degradation  into  which  an  established 
career  of  vice  is  sure  eventually  to  plunge  every  one.     Feeling 


114  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

the  effects  of  such  an  administration,  this  class  of  men  have  been 
making  it  their  business  to  see  that  there  never  should  be 
another  such  Mayor  in  any  city  in  the  Union,  and  so  they  have 
tried,  by  every  means  in  their  power,  to  make  my  former 
administration  odious,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Not  only  has  a 
portion  of  the  press  of  our  own  but  that  of  almost  every  city  in 
the  Union,  been  at  work  so  to  mould  public  opinion  that  no 
Mayor  in  any  city  would  ever  again  endeavor  to  enforce  the 
laws  against  this  class  of  offenders.  Under  this  state  of  things, 
I  deemed  it  a  great  moral  necessity  to  appeal  to  the  people 
again.  *  *  *  I  had  no  other  object  in  becoming  a  candidate 
for  Mayor  than  to  have  an  opportunity  to  repeat  them  under  the 
same  circumstances.  When  a  candidate  in  1857  I  received 
5,924  votes.  At  the  election  just  terminated  I  received,  out  of 
18,747,  tne  number  of  10,007  votes,  making  a  majority  of  1,267 
votes,  and  being  almost  double  the  number  I  received  at  my 
first  election,  and  this,  too,  with  the  oldest  and  most  powerful 
organization  in  the  Union  opposing  me  upon  a  difference  of 
political  sentiments,  whilst  it  was  aided  by  that  element  of  law- 
lessness which  in  large  cities  claims  to  hold  the  balance  of  power, 
and  which  timid  and  corrupt  aspirants  are  too  apt  to  court,  but 
which  I  have  ever  defied,  and  shall  do  my  utmost  to  remove 
from  the  city.  Fortunately,  since  I  left  the  office  of  Mayor  an 
important  ordinance,  commonly  known  as  the  'Vagrant  Act,'  has 
been  passed,  and  I  intend  to  rigidly  enforce  it.  Under  its  pro- 
visions all  suspicious  persons  can  be  compelled  to  give  '  a  good 
account  of  themselves,'  whereas,  under  my  previous  administra- 
tion, I  had  to  await  overt  acts.  My  course,  then,  cannot  be  mis- 
interpreted. It  is  not  my  fault  that  we  have  unpopular  and 
unjust  laws,  but  it  will  be  my  fault  if  they  are  not  faithfully 
executed.  I  then  have  but  one  order  to  give  to  those  whom 
the  people  are  taxed  to  support  as  my  subordinates,  and  that  is  : 
Remember  your  oath  !  Read  the  laws  !  Execute  them  !  "  Mayor 
Wentworth  proceeded  to  say  that  he  should  refuse  to  allow  any 
one  to  approach  him  personally  with  the  view  of  influencing  him 
with  reference  to  any  act,  ordinance  or  resolution  of  the  Council, 
but  that  all  such  communications  must  be  in  writing,  to  be  filed 
with  the  City  Clerk,  and  be  considered  public  documents  and 
part  of  the  city  archives.  Attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that 
in  1857  the  funded  debt  of  the  city  was  $535,000,  which  he  had 
decreased  $21,000,  and  which  yet  remained  $514,000,  with 
nothing  to  show  to  posterity  to  justify  the  outlay.  After  de- 
ducting the  proceeds  of  the  tax  sale  for  the  current  year  and  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I  I  5 

all  other  revenues  occurring  prior  to  April  i,  there  would  still 
remain  a  floating  debt  of  $300,000.  There  would  be  no  money 
in  the  treasury,  and  Mayor  Wentworth  proposed  to  ask  an  ex- 
tension upon  all  debts  contracted  prior  to  April  1,  and  to  petition 
the  Legislature  for  the  passage  of  a  law  allowing  the  city  to  fund 
the  debt.  As  a  measure  of  economy,  he  recommended  the 
vacation  of  the  office  of  City  Superintendent,  and  the  employ- 
ment of  some  person,  at  a  per  ^^compensation,  to  close  up  the 
few  works  remaining  unfinished.  The  abolishment  of  the  offices 
of  City  Physician  and  Health  officer  were  also  recommended. 
Inasmuch  as  it  was  the  duty  of  the  county  to  provide  for  the 
sick  poor,  he  recommended  the  sale  of  the  city  hospital,  which 
had  been  erected  at  a  cost  of  $73,538,  to  the  county,  which  had 
need  of  it,  whilst  the  city  had  not.  It  had  been  suggested  that 
orders  could  be  issued  directly  to  the  police  Lieutenants  of 
divisions,  and  thereby  save  the  salary  of  the  Captain,  and  Mayor 
Wentworth  said  he  was  willing  to  try  the  experiment  of  getting 
along  without  a  Captain,  and  should  not,  therefore,  at  present 
nominate  anybody  for  that  office.  He  also  thought  the  city 
could  get  along  without  a  prosecuting  attorney  in  the  police 
courts,  and  that  the  City  Attorney  should  do  the  work.  There 
was  great  need  of  a  new  registry  law,  and  of  efforts  \x>  purify  the 
city  of  fraudulent  voters  and  protect  the  elective  franchise.  A 
board  of  public  works  was  much  needed,  both  to  systematize 
and  economize  the  public  improvements.  In  the  legitimate  dis- 
charge of  their  respective  duties,  the  Street  Commissioners, 
the  Sewerage  Commissioners,  the  Water  Commissioners  and  the 
City  Superintendent  had  been  found  generally  opening  and 
filling  the  same  ground  in  a  single  week.  The  great  object  in 
the  way  of  the  much-needed  reform  was  the  dislike  of  the  incum- 
bents of  the  various  positions  to  be  legislated  out  of  office. 
Mayor  Wentworth  recommended  also,  upon  the  expiration  of 
the  terms  of  office  of  the  Street  Commissioners  and  City  Super- 
intendent, the  consolidation  of  the  Water  and  Sewage  Com- 
missioners into  a  Board  of  Public  Works.  This  would  save 
$25,000  per  annum  to  the  city.  The  ordinance  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  paid  Fire  Department,  passed  before  the  city  had 
much  experience  with  reference  to  this  indispensable  institution, 
needed  alteration  in  many  important  particulars.  In  the  revision 
of  the  rules  of  the  Council,  it  was  recommended  that  that  body 
dispense  with  the  "  Committee  on  Claims,"  which  was  created 
before  the  new  charter  went  into  effect.  Thereafter  all  disputed 
accounts   would    be    referred    directly    to    the    Mayor   and    the 


Il6  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Finance  Committee,  and  their  decision  would  be  a  bar  to  any 
action  of  the  Common  Council.  The  Council  were  recom- 
mended to  scan  the  general  appropriation  bill  due  in  the  month 
of  April,  and,  after  that  should  have  passed,  to  close  the  door  of 
the  treasury  for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  Great  circumspection 
was  recommended  in  any  action  of  the  Council  looking  to  the 
vacation  of  streets  and  alleys.  By  a  law  of  the  last  session  of 
the  Legislature  a  majority  of  a  quorum  could  vacate  any  street 
or  alley  without  previous  notice.  In  the  known  absence  of  some 
members  of  the  Council,  two  members  could  call  eleven  to- 
gether, and  six  of  the  eleven  could  close  up  Lake  street  or  any 
street  in  the  city.  The  charter  required  that  all  officers  of  the 
city  not  elected  by  the  people  should  be  nominated  by  the 
Mayor.  As  both  the  Comptroller  and  the  School  Agent  were 
required  to  be  nominated  by  the  Mayor  and  confirmed  by  the 
Council,  it  had  occurred  to  the  Mayor  that,  as  there  was  no  dif- 
ference in  the  means  of  appointing  these  two  officers,  the  duties 
of  the  School  Agent  might  be  performed  by  the  Comptroller, 
without  any  additional  expense  to  the  city.  If  the  Comptroller 
should  not  give  ample  bonds  to  cover  the  amount  of  school 
funds,  the  Council  had  power  to  increase  them.  In  this  way  the 
salary  of  the  School  Agent,  which  was  $500,  would  be  saved  to 
the  school  fund.  The  members  of  the  Common  Council  were 
prohibited  from  receiving  any  office  at  the  hands  of  the  city,  and 
Mayor  Wentworth  hoped  the  day  was  not  far  distant  when  the 
Board  of  Supervisors  of  Cook  county,  the  Board  of  Guardians 
of  Reform  School  and  all  other  boards  would  have  the  same 
restrictions  applied  to  them  as  were  applied  to  the  Council. 
The  message  concluded  as  follows  :  "  However  much  we  may 
differ  respecting  the  question  of  the  voluntary  and  involuntary 
systems  of  labor  that  now  constitute  the  only  difference  between 
the  two  great  political  parties  of  our  nation,  there  is  no  necessity 
that  we  should  be  divided  in  our  opinions  or  our  actions  in 
municipal  affairs.  Good  order  affects  us  all  alike.  Economy 
reduces  the  taxes  of  all  alike.  The  preservation  of  our  city's 
credit  benefits  us  all  alike.  A  proper  enforcement  of  the  laws 
gives  security  to  all  alike.  We  all  have  children  in  whose  future 
our  hopes  are  alike  concentrated.  Our  interests  are  one.  Our 
expectations  are  the  same  ;  our  destinies  identical.  Why,  then, 
should  we  differ  ?  I  am  your  presiding  officer  for  the  last  time. 
Seven  indorsements  at  the  hands  of  my  fellow  citizens  have 
satisfied  my  most  sanguine  aspirations.  It  is  for  some  of  them 
soon  to  stand  in  the  position  which   I   now  occupy ;    and  when 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  I  7 

they  do,  they  will  appreciate  my  appeal  to  forget  all  outside  dif- 
ferences and  remember  only  the  interests  of  our  city.  The 
pressure  upon  us  from  claimants,  contractors  and  office-hunters 
will  be  great.  We  must  steel  our  hearts  to  all  other  sympathies 
but  those  for  the  taxpayers  of  our  city.  The  man  who  does  this 
belongs  to  my  party,  so  far  as  all  municipal  affairs  are  concerned, 
and  I  belong  to  his.  The  eyes  of  all  our  citizens  are  upon  us. 
They  expect  much  in  this  crisis  in  our  financial  affairs  at  our 
hands.  Your  future  prospects  demand  that  the  expectation  shall 
not  be  destroyed  ;  whilst  I,  in  my  determination  to  retire  to 
private  life,  have  but  one  ambition,  and  in  accordance  therewith 
I  invoke  the  aid  of  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  that  our  adminis- 
tration may  be  governed  in  all  things  by  the  right,  and  be 
conducive  to  the  lasting  welfare  of  our  city." 

Sectional  issues  were  running  high  in  the  spring  of  1861, 
and  the  excitement  aroused  by  the  imminence  of  civil  war  out- 
weighed every  other  issue  in  local  politics.  Julian  S.  Rumsey, 
one  of  the  most  active  business  men,  and  a  patriotic  citizen, 
was  made  the  Republican  nominee  for  Mayor,  and  he  was  elected 
April  16.  In  the  evening  of  that  day  at  Metropolitan  hall, 
where  a  great  ratification  meeting  was  held,  he  delivered  a  nota- 
ble oration  in  behalf  of  loyalty,  patriotism,  and  the'maintenance 
of  the  Union.  This  was  but  a  few  days  after  the  firing  on  Fort 
Sumter  had  aroused  the  indignation  of  all  the  loyal  men  of  the 
North.  Mr.  Rumsey  became  known  as  the  first  "  War  Mayor," 
and  he  was  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  first 
War  Finance  Committee.  Shortly  after  his  election  a  Commit- 
tee of  One  Hundred  was  formed  to  visit  Washington,  to  see  if 
wise  counsels  could  not  be  made  to  prevail,  and  a  conflict  with 
the  South  thereby  be  avoided.  At  the  head  of  this  Committee 
was  Mayor  Rumsey  and  Stephen  Clary,  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  and  its  membership  included  such  well-known  citizens 
as  Norman  B.  Judd,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Philip  A.  Hoyne,  W.  C. 
D.  Grannis,  Richard  Wilson,  of  the  Evening  Journal,  Joseph 
Clarkson,  Tertius  Wadsworth,  Dwight  Booth,  George  H.  Phelps, 
W.  F.  Tucker,  W.  G.  Houghteling  and  others.  They  reached 
Washington  by  way  of  Pittsburgh  and  Baltimore,  and  upon  ar- 
rival at  the  capital  were  entertained  in  the  Senate  restaurant  by 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  John  F.  Farnsworth,  who  were  at  that 
time  not  on  speaking  terms  on  account  of  former  political  differ- 
ences, but  both  were  desirous  of  doing-  honor  to  the  distinguished 
Chicagoans  composing  the  Committee.  Washington  was  in  an 
uproar,  and    the    air  was    surcharged  with   martial  excitement. 


I  I  8  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

The  Committee  conferred  with  William  H.  Seward,  Andrew 
Johnson  and  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  but  were  not  encouraged  to 
believe  that  hostilities  could  be  averted.  Gen.  Scott  shed  tears 
when  he  acknowledged  that  avoidance  of  a  resort  to  arms  seemed 
hopeless.  The  day  following  their  arrival  the  Committee  waited 
upon  President  Buchanan.  Philip  A.  Hoyne  relates  that  the 
President  received  them  in  the  Blue  room  of  the  White  House 
and  treated  them  very  courteously.  He  assured  them  that  he 
was  doing  all  in  his  power  to  heal  up  the  sectional  troubles  with- 
out recourse  to  arms,  but  what  the  result  would  be  he  could  not 
foretell. 

The  Committee  were  not  satisfied  with  the  result  of 
their  visit,  having  accomplished  nothing ;  and  many  of  them 
departed,  firmly  convinced  that  the  President  believed  the  coun- 
try had  grown  so  large  and  its  interests  so  diverse  that  separa- 
tion was  inevitable.  They  had  been  joined  by  Charles  M.  Lar- 
rabee,  a  bright  but  somewhat  eccentric  lawyer,  and  a  member  of 
Congress  from  the  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  district,  and  as  they  were 
about  to  leave  the  President's  presence  Congressman  Larrabee 
upbraided  him  by  saying  :  "  If  you  had  not  forced  the  quarrel 
against  Douglas  in  our  own  party  this  trouble  would  not  now  be 
upon  the  country."  President  Buchanan  maintained  an  unruffled 
exterior  and  replied  quietly  but  with  great  earnestness  that  Dem- 
ocratic party  politics  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  attitude  of  the 
South,  where  the  chivalrous  spirits  that  led  the  people  believed 
they  were  contending  for  as  vital  a  principle  of  liberty  as  the 
people  of  the  North  were.  The  President  closed  the  interview 
by  saying  that  it  used  to  be  thought  that  the  Democratic  party 
could  not  survive  after  Jackson,  and  many  now  thought  it  could 
not  live  without  Douglas.  He  warmly  disavowed,  however, 
having  been  instrumental  in  precipitating  the  quarrel  with 
Douglas. 

During  the  campaign  of  1840  Mayor  Rumsey  distinguished 
himself  by  helping  to  sink,  in  a  bin  of  wheat  in  his  warehouse, 
the  famous  old  brass  cannon  found  in  the  river  near  Rush  street 
bridge  in  1837,  and  over  the  ownership  of  which  a  heated  con- 
troversy arose.  It  was  the  desire  of  Mayor  Rumsey  and  his 
friends  to  take  the  old  gun  to  Springfield  to  assist  in  booming 
Gen.  Harrison  for  President.  Mr.  Rumsey  arrived  in  Chicago 
in  1835  and  with  his  brother  George,  entered  the  employ  of  his 
uncle,  Mr.  Dole,  then  of  the  firm  of  Newberry  &  Dole.  He 
developed  a  commercial  and  speculative  disposition  ;  became  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trade;  in   1859-60  was  President  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  II9 

the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  in  1862  was  a  member  of  the 
building  committee  that  arranged  for  the  new  quarters  of  the 
Board. 

In  the  election  for  delegates  to  the  Convention  to  frame  a 
new  State  Constitution,  which  took  place  in  November,  1861,  the 
Chicago  representatives  elected  were  John  Wentworth,  Melville 
W.  Fuller  and  Elliott  Anthony.  The  Democrats  had  a  majority 
of  fifteen  in  the  Convention  over  Republicans  and  Fusionists. 
The  Convention,  however,  undertook  a  number  of  extraordinary 
acts,  among  other#an  ordinance  appropriating  $500,000  for  the 
benefit  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  of  Illinois  ;  but  Gov- 
ernor Yates  held  that  the  duties  of  the  Convention  were  simply 
to  frame  a  new  Constitution,  and  he  refused  to  recognize  the 
legality  of  any  other  act.  The  new  Constitution,  as  submitted 
to  the  voters  for  adoption,  provided  that  no  negro  or  mulatto 
should  migrate  to  or  settle  in  Illinois,  nor  should  any  negro  or 
mulatto  have  the  right  of  suffrage,  or  hold  office  in  this  state. 
These  articles  were  voted  upon  separately,  and  both  were  car- 
ried by  large  majorities,  while  the  balance  of  the  Constitution 
was  defeated  by  a  majority  of   25,515  in  the  state. 

The  State  and  Congressional  campaign  of  1862  was  a  nota- 
ble one,  owing  to  the  war  excitement,  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  overshadowing  all  other  issues  at  that  time.  August  8 
a  great  Union  mass  meeting  was  held  at  Chicago,  which  was  ad- 
dressed by  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Owen  Lovejoy  and  John  F.  Farns- 
worth. 

Arnold's  speech. 

"Starting  from  the  nation's  capital,  all  along  through  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  Indiana,  you  see  avast 
uprising  of  the  people,  with  a  fixed,  stern  determination,  at  any 
cost,  to  crush  out  this  vast  rebellion.  But  it  is  in  the  Northwest, 
and  in  this  great  city  of  the  Northwest,  that  the  zeal  and  energy 
of  patriotism  is  most  active  and  all-pervading.  Illinois  is  writing 
for  herself  and  her  children  a  glorious  record.  She  had  won  dis- 
tinguished honors  in  the  Mexican  war.  Bissell  and  Hardin  had 
associated  their  names  and  the  name  of  Illinois  with  Palo  Alto 
and  Buena  Vista  ;  but  in  this  far  more  glorious  war,  in  which  the 
faithful  fights  for  his  country  against  rebels  and  traitors  far  more 
cruel  and  barbarous  than  Mexican  guerillas,  Illinois  covered  her- 
self with  glory.  The  bones  of  her  sons  lie  scattered  on  every 
battle-field  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  With  more  than 
60,000  of  her  gallant  sons  in  the  field,  the  President,  whom  Illi- 
nois has  given  to   the  nation,   calls  for  more   troops.      Illinois 


120  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

springs  to  the  rescue.  Her  commercial  capital  speaks  to-day  in 
a  voice  which  will  thrill  'the  nation.  The  Northwest  is  ready. 
As  a  citizen  of  this  city,  I  claim  to-day  to  express  my  thanks  to 
the  Board  of  Trade.  You  have  done  nobly,  and  your  efforts 
will  tell  in  all  the  Northwest,  and  be  felt  throughout  the  loyal 
states,  and  I  doubt  not  the  gallant  soldiers  you  raise  will  be  felt 
among  the  barbarians  in  arms  against  our  country.  Every  great 
war  has  underlying  it  a  great  idea.  What  is  the  great  idea 
which  gives  impulse  and  motive-power  to  this  war?  It  is  our 
nationality.  The  grand  idea  of  a  great  flbntinental  republic, 
ocean  bounded,  and  extending  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf,  com- 
manding the  respect  of  the  world,  is  an  idea  implanted  deeply 
in  the  American  heart,  and  it  is  one  for  which  every  American 
patriot  will  fight,  and  if  necessary,  die.  Nowhere  is  this  senti- 
ment stronger  than  in  the  Northwest.  With  one  hand  we  clasp 
the  East,  and  with  the  other  the  Northwest  will  grip  the  South, 
and  we  will  hold  the  Union  together.  We  will  not  see  this  grand 
Republic  split  up  into  contemptible  Mexican  provinces — always 
fighting  and  destroying  each  other.  Incident  to  this  idea  of 
nationality — and  becoming  every  day  stronger — is  another,  that 
this  grand  republic  must  be  all  free,  filled  with  one  great,  free 
population.  The  suicide  of  slavery  is  being  enacted  before  our 
eyes.  Let  the  cursed  barbarous,  traitor-breeding  institution  die. 
The  slaveholder  has  himself  given  to  it  the  mortal  wound  ;  let 
no  timid  Northern  dough-face  attempt  to  staunch  the  blood.  The 
end  of  slavery  will  prove  the  regeneration  of  the  nation. 

"Liberal  bounty  is  offered  to  the  gallant  volunteer.  I  wish  to 
state  a  fact  which  may  not  be  generally  known.  The  Congress 
just  adjourned  provided  by  law  that  all  our  foreign-born  soldiers 
should  become  the  adopted  children  of  the  Republic  ;  he  who 
fights  for  the  flag  shall  be  immediately  a  citizen.  We  could  not 
do  less  for  the  gallant  Germans,  the  countrymen  of  Sigel,  and 
Osterhaus,  and  Willich, — for  the  brave  Irishmen,  who,  under 
Meagher,  and  Shields,  and  Mulligan,  are  fighting  for  the  old  flag. 

lo  every  Irishman  I  would  say,  Remember  Corcoran,  and  rally 
to  his  rescue.  Who  shall  pay  the  cost  of  this  war  ?  Let  us 
quarter  on  the  enemy,  confiscate  his  property,  and  free  the  slaves 
of  rebels." 

Isaac  Newton  Arnold  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1835,  and 
came  to  Chicago  in  October,  1836.  On  January  3,  1837,  ne  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Mechanics'   Institute.      In   March, 

1837,  he  became  City  Clerk  on  the  incorporation  of  the  city, 
being  at  that  time  in  partnership  with   Mahlon  D.  Ogden.      He 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  12  1 

was  one  of  the  first  School  Inspectors  chosen  under  the  law  of 
February  27,  1840,  and  was  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Education 
in  1840-41.  In  April,  1841,  he  was  appointed  master  in  chan- 
cery, which  position  he  held  until  he  was  elected  to  the  State 
Legislature  in  1842,  being  re-elected  in  1844.  ^n  that  year  also 
he  was  a  Presidential  Elector  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  In  1856 
he  was  again  elected  to  the  Legislature  on  the  Anti-Slavery  ticket. 
In  i860  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  was  re-elected  in  1862. 
During  his  term  he,  on  February  15,  1864,  introduced  the  reso- 
lution to  amend  the  Constitution  so  that  slavery  should  be  abol- 
ished. It  passed,  and  Chicago  took  the  first  step  in  the  person 
of  Mr.  Arnold  to  kill  slavery  in  the  United  States.  His  Con- 
gressional career  terminated  on  March  3,  1865.  He  was  a  dis- 
tinguished writer,  and  his  "  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  "  is  one  of 
the  finest  biographical  works  extant.  In  his  labors  for  Chicago 
he  was  unselfish  and  indefatigable.  He  was  commissioned  First 
Lieutenant  of  the  Chicago  Cavalry  at  its  organization  in  the 
early  spring  of  1842,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  was 
unwearied  in  his  efforts  against  the  success  of  secession.  At  the 
time  of  the  suppression  of  the  Chicago  Times  he,  with  Senator 
Trumbull,  telegraphed  to  rescind  the  order  for  its  discontinuance. 
He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Chicago  Relief  and  Aid 
Society  ;  was  one  of  the  earliest  trustees  of  the  Merchants'  Loan 
and  Trust  Company  ;  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Chi- 
cago Historical  Society,  and  was  its  president  from  1876  until 
his  death  on  April  24,  1884. 

lovejoy's  speech. 
"  So  far  as  the  question  of  argument  is  concerned,  it  has  been 
exhausted.  A  son  does  not  argue  or  appeal  to  decide  as  to  the 
propriety  of  killing  the  assassin  of  his  mother  ;  neither  do  the 
sons  of  the  republic  need  long-winded  arguments  to  induce  them 
to  put  down  this  accursed  rebellion.  We  want  men,  not  speeches  ; 
men  with  muskets  in  their  hands,  not  hurrahs  from  their  throats. 
I  have  but  little  reputation  as  a  conservative  man,  so  far  as  I 
have  been  informed.  Some  people  go  so  far  as  to  say  I  am 
slightly  tinctured  with  fanaticism  in  my  views  of  the  slavery 
question.  For  myself,  I  claim  to  be  a  sort  of  an  anointed 
prophet  of  the  Lord.  I  have  faith  in  God,  and  next  to  Him,  in 
the  American  people.  Let  us  not  fall  into  the  error  of  the  man, 
who,  standing  by  the  side  of  a  bayou  or  arm  of  the  sea,  and  wit- 
nessing the  ebb  of  the  tide,  exclaimed  that  the  sea  was  becoming 
dry  land  again.  Rather  let  us  say  that  behind  and  beyond  the 
temporary  reverses  now  afflicting  us,  there  will  come  up  the  great 


122  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

uprising  of  popular  patriotism,  which  in  its  certain  flood  shall  cover 
with  its  proper  element  and  spirit  the  ground  lost  in  those  tem- 
porary reverses.  It  is  not  for  any  of  us  to  say  that  during  the 
trying  emergency  in  which  we  are  at  present  placed,  he  could 
manage  the  ship  of  state  more  satisfactorily  than  the  one  who  is 
now  at  the  helm.  Let  us  each  seize  a  rope  and  do  what  we  can 
to  prevent  its  destruction.  We  must  not  allow  French  interven- 
tion in  Mexico,  nor  allow  a  descendant  of  that  old  British  tyrant, 
George  the  Third,  to  plant  his  throne  in  Southern  soil  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  Republic.  We  must  therefore  defend  our 
soil  if  every  foot  of  the  domain  is  consecrated  with  the  blood  of 
a  slain  hero.  We  must  preserve  our  nationality,  and  for  myself, 
I  don't  want  to  survive  the  permanent  dismemberment  of  these 
United  States.  I  had  a  thousand  times  rather  lay  down  my  life 
on  the  battlefield  than  outlive  such  a  dreadful  event.  I  don't 
know  what  God  wills,  but  I  have  a  shrewd  suspicion  that  He  wills 
what  we  will.  The  maintenance  of  the  government  and  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Union  are  a  necessity.  What !  consent  to  dis- 
memberment? Suppose  we  allow  the  Confederates  to  secede, 
what  do  we  gain  ?  We  gain  a  Confederacy  more  despotic  than 
any  monarchy  of  Europe.  With  Canada  on  the  north  and  this 
hated  Southern  Confederacy  on  the  south,  with  all  the  power 
and  hate  of  England  to  back  her,  v/e  are  ground  to  powder  be- 
tween the  upper  and  nether  millstone.  How  is  our  nationality 
to  be  preserved  ?  By  every  man,  woman  and  child  consecrating 
themselves  to  the  great  work  till  the  rebellion  is  suppressed. 
This  is  a  matter  that  cannot  be  settled  by  resolutions  or  meet- 
ings, nor  ballots  ;  it's  got  beyond  that ;  it's  bayonets  and  bullets 
now.  War  has  hardly  touched  us  yet  in  the  great  Northwest ; 
it  has  not  yet  laid  upon  us  its  bloody  hand,  that  we  feel  its  with- 
ering, blighting  curse.  We  must  buy  and  sell  and  conduct  our- 
selves as  usual,  but  the  one  grand  idea  must  ever  be  prominent 
— the  suppression  of  this  rebellion.  We  must  make  this  war 
the  great  business  of  our  lives  till  it  is  ended." 

The  three  speakers  at  this  meeting  were  re-elected  to  Con- 
gress from  their  respective  districts  in  the  ensuing  November 
election  by  increased  majorities.  Isaac  N.  Arnold  was  elected  over 
Francis  C.  Sherman,  Democrat,  by  10,025  votes  to  Sherman's  8,387 
in  the  First  district.  John  F.  Farnsworth  defeated  Neil  Don- 
nelly, Democrat,  in  the  Second  district,  receiving  12,612  votes  to 
his  opponent's  4,785.  Owen  Lovejoy  was  returned  from  the  Sixth 
district  over  two  opponents,  the  vote  standing,  Lovejoy,  11,683  > 
Thomas  J.  Henderson,  11,020;  Benjamin  Graham,  617. 


CHAPTER     VI. 

THE    REVISED  CHARTER EXTENSION  OF  LIMITS MAYOR  F.   C.   SHER- 

MAN'S  SECOND  TERM THE  "CHICAGO  CONSPIRACY" ACTION  OF 

THE  COPPERHEADS VALLANDIGHAM  AND  WENTWORTH — CAM- 
PAIGN OF  1864 — STATE  AND  CONGRESSIONAL  ELECTIONS RE- 
PEAL OF  THE  BLACK  CODE MAYOR  JOHN  B.  RICE — ASSASSINA- 
TION OF  LINCOLN CAMPAIGN  OF  I  868 FIRST  FALL  CITY  ELEC- 
TION  THE  GREAT  FIRE — MAYOR  R.   B.   MASON. 

By  the  adoption  of  the  revised  city  charter  of  1863  the 
term  of  the  Mayoralty  was  made  two  years  instead  of  one  year 
as  formerly,  and  the  territory  of  the  city  was  extended  to  Thirty- 
Ninth  street  on  the  south  ;  Western  avenue  on  the  west,  and 
Fullerton  avenue  on  the  north  ;  while  to  the  eastward  the  limits 
included  one  mile  of  the  bed  waters  of  the  Lake.  This  area 
was  divided  into  sixteen  wards.  In  1862  Francis  C.  Sherman, 
who  had  served  a  term  as  Mayor  twenty-one  years  before,  and 
had  ever  maintained  a  popular  standing,  was  again  nominated 
for  Mayor  by  the  Democratic  city  Convention,  and  he  was  elected 
April  15,  and  was  re-elected  April  21,  1863,  when  the  two-year 
terms  began,  and  thus  was  the  first  Mayor  who  served  a  two 
years'  term.  His  life  and  public  services  have  already  been 
dwelt  upon.  It  was  during  his  last  term  that  the  so-called  "Chi- 
cago Conspiracy"  culminated,  and  also  that  the  celebrated  meet- 
ing between  "  Long"  John  Wentworth,  then  Police  Commis- 
sioner, and  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  of  Ohio,  took  place.  In 
January,  1863,  during  the  second  year  of  the  war,  a  well-defined 
plan  to  separate  the  West  from  New  England  had  been  devel- 
oped. The  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  were  organized,  and 
Clement  L.  Vallandigham  was  recognized  as  their  oracle.  The 
leaders  used  sophistical  arguments  of  which  "  peace  at  any  price" 
was  the  keynote,  and  many  were  drawn  into  the  organization 
who  did  not  understand  its  scope  or  the  intentions  of  its  leaders. 
To  them  the  Golden  Circle  was  one  of  peace  and  restored 
fraternity.  Governor  Richard  Yates  in  his  message  to  the  Legis- 
lature referred  to  the  machinations  of  this  order.  The  "Chicago 
Conspiracy"  was  for  the  purpose  of  liberating  the  rebel  prison- 
er) 


124  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ers  at  Camp  Douglas,  and  raising  an  insurrection  in  Illinois  and 
Indiana  against  the  authority  of  the  Government  to  prosecute 
the  war.  The  number  of  prisoners  in  the  camp  at  that  date  was 
8,352,  and  the  total  strength  of  the  garrison  was  796  men.  Col. 
Sweet,  in  command  of  the  camp,  was  prepared  for  the  revolt, 
suppressed  it,  and  placed  the  ringleaders  in  more  secure  confine- 
ment. This  insurrection  was  planned  from  Windsor,  Canada,  by 
Jacob  Thompson  of  Mississippi,  who  was  Secretary  of  War  un- 
der President  Buchanan.  The  organized  bodies  were  variously 
called  "American  Knights  ;"  "  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  ;" 
"  Sons  of  Liberty;"  and  the  "  Society  of  the  Illini  ;"  the  latter 
being  made  up  of  "  Copperhead"  sympathizers  with  the  move- 
ment. The  order  was  stronger  in  Indiana  than  elsewhere,  al- 
though there  were  branches  in  Ohio  and  Missouri.  The  "Sons 
of  Liberty"  in  Chicago  first  held  their  meetings  in  a  building  at 
the  corner  of  Clark  and  Monroe  streets,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
conspiracy  in  the  fifth  story  of  McCormick's  block,  corner  of 
Randolph  and  Dearborn  streets.  There  were  about  2,000  mem- 
bers of  the  order  in  Chicago,  James  A.  Wilkenson  being  Grand 
Seignior.  The  armed  forces  were  to  be  under  the  immediate 
command  of  Charles  Walsh,  Brigadier-General  of  the  Sons  of 
Liberty.  Walsh  was  an  Irish  citizen  of  Chicago,  at  one  time 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  Sheriff  of  Cook  county.  Early  in 
the  war  he  was  an  active  Union  man,  but  later  joined  the  Sons 
of  Liberty.  The  Democratic  Convention  was  to  have  been  held 
in  Chicago  July  4,  but  was  postponed  until  August  29.  On  that 
date  the  city  was  full  of  armed  men  who  had  come  secretly  from 
Canada,  Indiana  and  Southern  Illinois,  with  headquarters  at  the 
Richmond  House,  Chicago,  the  Canada  contingent  being  under 
command  of  Capt.  Thomas  H.  Hines,  formerly  of  Morgan's 
guerillas. 

In  Indiana  the  strength  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  was  placed  at 
upward  of  12,000  by  Gen.  Carrington  in  a  report  to  Governor 
Morton.  Many  of  the  Indiana  leaders  were  delegates  to  the 
Supreme  Grand  Council,  called  to  meet  at  Chicago  July  1. 

It  has  been  charged  that  the  deliberations  of  the  Chicago 
National  Convention  were  controlled  by  the  order  of  the  "Sons 
of  Liberty."  During  its  session  Dr.  Olds,  a  leading  member 
of  the  order,  an  outspoken  traitor,  boldly  announced  that  the 
"  Sons  of  Liberty"  were  in  session  in  the  city,  and  might  have  a 
communication  to  present  to  the  Convention  before  its  adjourn- 
ment. 

Vallandigham  wrote  the  platform,  which  was  adopted  almost 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  25 

unanimously,  and  it  was  upon  his  motion  that  McClellan  was 
declared  the  nominee  of  the  Convention.  The  essential  por- 
tions of  the  platform  had  been  previously  adopted  by  the  Grand 
Council  of  the  Order  at  a  meeting  held  at  Indianapolis  on  the 
1 6th  of  February,  1864,  as  is  shown  by  a  resolution  found 
on  the  secret  records  of  that  order,  in  the  safe  of  Dodd,  the 
Grand  Commander  for  Indiana.  The  corresponding  portion  of 
the  Chicago  platform  reads  :  Resolved,  That  this  Convention 
does  explicitly  declare  as  the  sense  of  the  American  people,  that 
after  four  years  of  failure  to  restore  the  Union  by  the  experi- 
ment of  war,  during  which,  under  the  pretense  of  a  military  ne- 
cessity, or  war  power  higher  than  the  Constitution,  the  Consti- 
tution itself  has  been  disregarded  in  every  part,  and  public 
liberty  and  private  right  alike  trodden  down,  and  the  material 
prosperity  of  the  country  essentially  impaired,  justice,  human- 
ity, liberty  and  the  public  welfare  demand  that  immediate  efforts 
be  made  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  with  a  view  to  an  ultimate 
convention  of  all  the  States,  or  other  peaceable  means,  to  the  end 
that  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  peace  may  be  restored  on  the 
basis  of  the  Federal  Union  of  the  States. 

Any  outbreak,  if  one  were  contemplated,  was  headed  off 
by  the  prompt  action  of  Col.  Sweet,  who  telegraphed  for  re- 
inforcements, and  before  the  time  of  the  session  of  the  conven- 
tion the  196th  Pennsylvania  Infantry,  numbering  750  men,  with 
four  companies  of  another  regiment,  and  the  24th  Ohio  Battery 
— 1,200  all  told,  were  sent  to  his  assistance.  Small  details  were 
posted  at  various  points  about  the  city,  and  a  detachment  of  150 
men  was  stationed  near  the  University  building  with  orders  to 
occupy  it  if  Camp  Douglas  were  attacked. 

The  Democrats  had  a  majority  of  both  Houses  of  the  Legis- 
lature and  of  the  Committee  on  Federal  Relations  in  1803. 
The  majority  of  this  Committee  reported  to  the  Assembly  reso- 
lutions in  favor  of  the  restoration  of  peace  and  fraternal  relations, 
and  the  minority  submitted  counter  resolutions,  favoring  a  stead- 
fast prosecution  of  the  war,  and  no  compromise  until  the  U  nion  had 
been  restored.  The  majority  report  recommended  the  calling 
of  a  Convention  at  Louisville,  or  elsewhere,  to  be  indorsed  by 
Congress  or  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states,  to  consider 
measures  looking  to  the  cessation  of  the  war.  Stephen  T. 
Logan,  Samuel  S.  Marshall.  H.  K.  S.  O'Mulveny,  W.  C.  Goudy, 
Anthony  Thornton  and  John  D.  Caton  were  by  the  majority 
report  recommended  as  Commissioners  to  confer  with  Congress, 
the   President  and  the  several  state  Legislatures  in  reference  to 


126  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

the  holding  of  the  proposed  Convention.  February  12,  Mr. 
Lawrence  moved  to  substitute  the  minority  report  for  that  of 
the  majority,  which  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  27  yeas  to  52  nays, 
when  Mr.  Burr  moved  the  previous  question  upon  the  adoption 
of  the  majority  report,  and  it  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  52  yeas 
to  28  nays.  The  resolutions  were  the  same  day  transmitted  to 
the  Senate  for  the  concurrence  of  that  body.  Pending  action, 
Senator  Rogers,  Democrat,  died,  leaving  the  Senate  a  tie,  the 
presiding  officer,  who  had  the  casting  vote,  being  a  Republican. 
February  14  both  Houses  took  a  recess  until  June  2.  The  As- 
sembly then  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  and  a  complication 
arose  over  a  joint  resolution  introduced  proposing  to  adjourn 
sine  die  on  the  10th  inst.  Both  Houses  failed  to  take  definite 
action,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  10th  Governor  Yates  trans- 
mitted a  message  to  both  bodies  proroguing  the  General  Assem- 
bly till  January,  1865.  This  action  was  denounced  by  the  Dem- 
ocrats, who  issued  a  stirring  protest  setting  forth  their  grievances. 
The  question  of  the  legality  of  the  action  of  the  Governor 
was  presented  in  various  forms  to  the  Supreme  Court  by  eminent 
lawyers,  but  that  body  never  rendered  a  decision  directly  on  the 
question.  The  Judges  then  constituting  the  Supreme  Court 
were  Sidney  Breese,  Pinkney  H.  Walker  and  John  D.  Caton, 
and  the  latter  was  not  present  when  one  form  of  the  cause  was 
passed  upon.  Justices  Breese  and  Walker  wrote  separate  but 
concurring  opinions,  and  Justice  Breese  said  that  admitting, 
in  the  language  of  the  protest,  the  action  of  the  Governor  was 
"  illegal,  outrageous  and  unconstitutional,"  both  Houses  having 
adopted  it  and  dispersed,  they  thereby  put  an  end  to  the  session, 
having  at  the  time  no  intention  to  resume  it.  This,  for  all  prac- 
tical purposes,  was  an  adjournment  sine  die. 

In  August,  1864,  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  visited  Chicago, 
and  on  Friday  evening  the  24th  inst.  addressed  a  large  gathering 
in  the  Court  House  square.  At  its  close  "Long  John"  Went- 
worth,  then  a  Police  Commissioner,  replied  to  Vallandigham  in 
a  remarkable  speech,  full  of  patriotism,  scathing  sarcasm  and 
convincing  argument,  and  this  speech  brought  Vallandigham's 
efforts  to  naught,  and  inspired  many  citizens  to  efforts  of  renewed 
patriotism. 

Chicago  was  represented  in  the  Twenty-third  General  As- 
sembly of  1863  by  William  B.  Ogden  and  Jasper  D.  Ward  in 
the  Senate,  and  by  Ansel  B.  Cook,  Amos  G.  Throop,  William 
E.  Ginther,  Melville  W.  Fuller,  Michael  Brandt,  Francis  A.  East- 
man   and    Lorenz    Brentano,   in  the   House.       Michael    Brandt 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  27 

gained  his  seat  by  a  contest  with  George  W.  Gage,  who  had  first 
been  admitted. 

This  assembly  elected  as  the  successor  of  the  lamented  Ste- 
phen A.  Douglas  in  the  United  States  Senate,  William  A.  Rich- 
ardson, who  received  65  votes  to  38  for  Richard  Yates.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  re-nominated  for  president  by  the  Republicans  at 
Baltimore,  June  7,  1864.  Chicago,  as  has  been  shown,  was 
selected  as  the  place  of  holding  the  Democratic  Convention,  and 
the  great  gathering  of  Northern  Democrats  on  August  29,  nom- 
inated Gen.  George  B.  McClellan,  of  New  Jersey,  for  President, 
and  George  H.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice-president.  McClel- 
lan was  nominated  ostensibly  as  a  war  Democrat,  but  the  plat- 
form adopted  was  known  as  a  peace  platform,  and  called  for  a 
cessation  of  hostilities.  The  ill-ballasted  party  ship  found  the 
inevitable  haven  of  defeat,  which  in  the  speeches  and  songs  of 
the  campaign  was  designated  "  Salt  River."  The  state  campaign 
was  enlivened  by  the  rivalry  between  William  Bross  and  S.  Corn- 
ing Judd,  who  were  candidates  on  the  opposing  state  tickets  for 
the  office  of  Lieutenant-Governor.  Governor  Bross  ran  slightly 
behind  his  ticket,  but  received  188,842  votes  in  the  state  to  158,- 
244  for  Mr.  Judd.  John  Wentworth  was  returned  to  Congress 
from  the  First  District,  receiving  18,557  votes  to  14,277  for  his 
opponent,  Cyrus  H.  McCormick.  John  F.  Farnsworth  was 
again  returned  from  the  Second  district,  his  vote  being  18,298, 
and  that  of  his  opponent,  M.  C.  Johnson,  5,237.  The  highest 
vote  in  the  state  for  the  presidential  electors  was,  for  Lincoln, 
189,521;  for  McClellan,  158,829.  Arno  Voss  was  a  McClellan 
elector  and  John  V.  Farwell,  John  I.  Bennett  and  Francis  A. 
Hoffman  were  Lincoln  electors.  The  Republicans  were  in  the 
ascendancy  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature.  Lieutenant 
Governor  Bross  was  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate.  Gov- 
ernor Richard  Yates  was  elected  United  States  Senator,  and  at 
this  session  the  "black  laws"  were  repealed,  and  appropriations 
were  made  for  the  care  of  soldiers'  orphans  and  for  the  purchase 
of  the  tract  in  which  the  remains  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  are 
interred. 

Of  the  repeal  of  the  Black  Code,  Zebina  Eastman  thus  wrote  : 
"  This  is  one  of  the  immutable  laws,  that  stand  forever !  Every 
pigeon-hole  of  the  legal  archives  was  ransacked,  and  every  taint 
of  color  in  our  laws  searched  out  and  buried  forever."  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  repealing  act  without  the  formal  caption  : 

"  Section  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the  State  of 
Illinois  by  the  General  Assembly;  that  Section    16,  Division  3, 


125  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Chapter  30,  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  State  entitled  '  Crim- 
inal Jurisprudence;'  and  Chapter  74  of  said  Revised  Statutes, 
entitled  '  Negroes  and  Mulattoes,'  and  an  act  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  this  State  approved,  February  12,  1853,  entitled 
'  An  act  to  prevent  the  immigration  of  free  negroes  into  this 
State'  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed  ;  also,  Section  23, 
Chapter  40,  Revised  Statutes,  entitled,  '  Evidence  and  Deposi- 
tion.' Sec.  2.  This  act  to  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  passage." 
Approved  February  7,  1865. 

Although  the  issues  in  the  great  campaigns  already  dealt 
with  involved  the  questions  of  the  repression  of  slavery,  state 
rights,  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  secession,  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  and  maintenance  of  National  Sovereignty,  and  led  up 
to  the  crisis  of  the  Civil  War  ;  the  most  tremendous  contest  of 
arms  the  world  has  ever  known,  in  which  deeds  of  herculean 
valor  were  performed  on  both  sides,  it  is  not  the  intention  here 
to  enter  into  a  review  of  the  memorable  battles  and  the  excite- 
ments and  alarms  that  characterized  the  war  period.  Illinois 
throughout,  more  than  any  other  state  in  the  nation,  furnished 
the  men  and  the  minds  that  controlled  the  issues  and  directed 
the  contest.  Chicago  at  all  times  was  the  center  of  these  move- 
ments. Here  Hooper  Warren  and  Zebina  Eastman  supported 
the  Abolition  movement;  here  the  name  of  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy 
was  a  household  word  ;  here  Douglas  and  Lincoln  entered  upon 
their  immortal  debates ;  and  Lincoln  was  here  presented  to  the 
nation  as  a  leader  in  its  hour  of  greatest  peril.  The  names  of 
Grant,  Owen  Lovejoy,  Lyman  Trumbull,  Ficklin,  McClernand, 
Browning,  Ingersoll,  Shields,  Yates,  John  M.  Palmer,  Richard 
Oglesby  and  John  A.  Logan  are  of  national  fame  and  import. 
The  grand  achievements  and  resplendent  fame  of  Lincoln,  the 
director,  and  Grant,  the  executor,  are  emblazoned  on  the  endless 
scroll  of  time,  and  need  no  commemoration  in  enduring  monu- 
ments of  stone  and  bronze.  Illinois  furnished  in  the  war  226,- 
592  soldiers,  and  of  this  number  Cook  county's  quota  was  22,436. 
Ellsworth's  first  Zouaves,  the  Chicago  Light  Artillery,  Board  of 
Trade  Battery  and  many  regiments  of  infantry  did  splendid  ser- 
vice in  the  field,  and  remained  in  the  service  as  long  as  there  was 
any  fighting  to  do.  Camp  Douglas  was  one  of  the  greatest 
military  prisons  in  the  North,  and  the  sanitary  work  carried  out 
for  prisoners  here  and  Union  men  in  the  field  was  unequaled  in 
any  other  city.  There  was  no  call  made  for  men  or  money  or 
any  of  the  sinews  of  war,  that  was  not  promptly  and  liberally 
responded  to  by  the  loyal  citizens  of  Chicago. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  29 

The  unswerving  purpose  of  President  Lincoln  to  preserve 
the  Union  at  all  hazards,  his  martyrdom  in  the  hour  of  triumph, 
the  pall  of  gloom  that  overhung  the  country  and  the  mournful 
pageant  that  extended  from  Washington  to  Springfield,  are  cir- 
cumstances so  universally  known  and  well  remembered  as  to 
need  no  extended  mention  here.  His  untimely  death  was  la- 
mented by  all  alike  as  a  national  calamity,  and  it  was  especially 
exasperating  to  all  loyal  citizens  because  procured  by  such  foul 
and  unnatural  means.  His  remains  arrived  in  Chicago  April  29, 
1865,  and  were  placed  upon  a  splendid  catafalque  and  accom- 
panied by  mourning  thousands  through  the  city,  departing  Tues- 
day evening,  May  2,  for  Springfield,  where  at  9  a.  m.,  on  the 
morning  of  May  3  they  were  received  by  his  old  friends  and 
neighbors  and  placed  in  the  state  capitol,  where  they  laid  in  state 
one  day,  and  were  then  interred  in  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery,  where 
a  stately  monument  commemorates  his  life  and  deeds. 

The  Mayor  of  Chicago  from  1865  to  1869  was  John  B.  Rice, 
a  prominent  business  man,  and  an  old  and  esteemed  citizen.  He 
was  first  elected  April  18,  1865,  four  days  after  the  assassination 
of  President  Lincoln  by  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  at  Ford's  Theater, 
Washington.  The  universal  horror  and  grief  over  this  act  par- 
alyzed for  the  time  being  all  feeling  of  a  partisan  nature,  and  Mr. 
Rice  was  elected  without  opposition.  His  opponent  on  the 
Democratic  ticket  was  Leonard  Rothgerber,  who,  out  of  consid- 
eration for  the  public  feeling,  drew  out,  and  Mr.  Rice  with  equal 
consideration  for  this  act  of  courtesy  on  Mr.  Rothgerber's  part, 
ascertained  the  amount  of  preliminary  expense  he  had  incurred, 
and  sent  him  a  check  for  the  amount.  Mr.  Rice  was  re-elected 
Mayor  for  another  term  of  two  years  April  16,  1867.  March  10, 
1869,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  for  the  redistricting 
of  the  city,  and  changing  the  time  of  holding  the  city  election 
from  April  to  November.  Under  the  provisions  of  this  act  the 
city  was  divided  into  twenty  wards.  Mayor  Rice  and  his  col- 
leagues held  over  in  office  until  the  first  Monday  in  December, 
1869.  Mr.  Rice  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  First  District 
in  1872.  His  death  occurred  in  December,  1874,  at  which  time 
the  city  Council  passed  resolutions  eulogizing  his  memory. 

The  National  campaign  of  1868  opened  at  Chicago  in  May. 
Gen.  U.  S.  Grant,  of  Illinois,  and  Schuyler  Colfax,  of  Indiana, 
were  nominated  by  the  Republican  National  Convention,  May 
20,  for  president  and  vice-president.  The  Democratic  National 
Convention  was  held  at  New  York,  July  4,  and  Horatio  Seymour 
was  nominated  for  President,  and  Francis  P.  Blair  for  Vice-presi- 

9 


I3O  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

dent.  Local  issues  were  lost  sight  of  in  national  questions. 
John  M.  Palmer  was  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor,  and 
John  R.  Eden  the  Democratic.  John  A.  Logan  was  the  Repub- 
lican, and  William  W.  O'Brien  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
Congressman  at  large.  Logan's  vote  was  249,422  in  the  state, 
and  O'Brien's  199,789.  In  the  First  Chicago  district,  Norman 
B.  Judd,  Republican,  defeated  M.  R.  M.  Wallace,  Democrat,  for 
Congress  by  a  vote  of  27,414  to  19,233,  and  in  the  Second  dis- 
trict John  F.  Farnsworth,  Republican,  defeated  A.  M.  Herring- 
ton  by  a  vote  of  20,725  to  6,307.  The  Seymour  electoral  ticket 
received  199,143  votes  in  the  state  and  the  Grant  electors  250,- 
293.     The  electors  were  : 

SEYMOUR    ELECTORS. 

John  A.  McClernand,  David  A.  Gage,  Silas  L.  Bryan, 
E.  F.  Colby,  Richard  Bishop,  Edward  F.  Dutcher,  Delos  P. 
Phelps,  John  T.  Lindsay,  Perry  A.  Armstrong,  Charles  Black, 
James  S.  Ewing,  Simeon  P.  Shope,  George  N.  Halliday,  William 
B.  Anderson,  Edward  M.  West,  Charles  Burnett. 

GRANT    ELECTORS. 

Gustavus  Koerner,  Thomas  J.  Henderson,  Stephen  A.  Hurl- 
but,  Lorenz  Brentano,  Jesse  S.  Hildrup,  James  McCoy,  Henry 
W.  Draper,  Thomas  G.  Frost,  Joseph  O.  Glover,  John  W.  Black- 
burn, Samuel  C.  Parks,  Damon  G.  Tunnicliff,  John  D.  Strong, 
Edward  Kitchell,  Charles  F.  Springer,  Daniel  W.  Munn. 

John  C.  Dore  and  Jasper  D.  Ward  were  elected  to  the  state 
Senate  from  the  Chicago  districts,  and  Cook  county  was  repre- 
sented in  the  House  by  H.  B.  ("Buffalo")  Miller;  L.  L.  Bond, 
J.  S.  Reynolds,  F.  Munson,  John  C.  Knickerbocker,  Iver  Lawson 
and  E.  S.  Taylor,  the  latter  a  resident  of  Evanston.  James  P. 
Root,  of  Cook,  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  House  over  J.  Merrick 
Bush,  of  Pike  county,  by  a  vote  of  56  to  23. 

The  first  city  election  to  be  held  in  the  fall  of  the  year  took 
place  November  2,  1869,  and  Roswell  B.  Mason  was  elected 
Mayor  on  the  "  Peoples'  ticket,"  which  has  sometimes  been  con- 
founded with  the  noted  "  Peoples'  party  "  of  1873.  On  the  ticket 
with  Mayor  Mason  David  A.  Gage  was  elected  City  Treasurer ; 
I.  N.  Stiles  City  Attorney,  and  Charles  T.  Hotchkiss  City  Clerk. 
Corruption  in  various  departments  was  known  to  exist,  and  the 
best  citizens,  with  the  unanimous  commendation  of  the  press, 
united  in  support  of  the  "  Peoples'"  ticket.  During  the  first  year 
of  his  term  Mayor  Mason  endeavored  to  bring  about  a  number 
of  reforms,  and  in  this  effort  was  partially  successful.      His  term 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  131 

was  made  historic  by  the  great  Chicago  fire;  his  able  administra- 
tion of  the  city's  affairs  at  that  trying  period  won  for  him  uni- 
versal encomiums. 

The  most  important  happening  in  the  history  of  Chicago 
was  the  great  fire  of  187 1.  It  is  not  the  intention  here  to  give 
at  length  the  harrowing  details  of  this  terrible  calamity,  but  no 
history  of  the  city  would  be  complete  without  mention  of  the 
greatest  fire  in  the  history  of  the  world,  which  in  a  few  hours 
almost  completely  wiped  out  all  of  our  public  institutions;  crip- 
pled private  fortunes;  ruined  many  of  our  wealthiest  citizens, 
paralyzed  trade,  and  disordered  the  functions  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment. At  9:20  o'clock,  p.  m.,  October  8,  1871,  an  alarm  of 
fire  was  struck  from  box  342,  and  the  Fire  Department  re- 
sponded, to  quell  a  blaze  in  a  cow-shed  in  the  rear  of  137  De 
Koven  street.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  great  Chicago  fire. 
The  generally  accepted  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  fire  is  that  a 
cow  belonging  to  Mrs.  O'Leary,  owner  of  the  premises,  kicked 
over  an  oil  lamp,  which  started  a  blaze  that  destroyed  property 
valued  at  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  and  rendered  many 
thousands  of  people  homeless.  During  the  six  days  previous  to 
October  8  the  Chicago  Fire  Department  had  responded  to 
twenty-seven  alarms  and  had  worked  at  twenty-four  fires.  The 
department  had  just  passed  through  what  is  known  as  "  the  Sat- 
urday night  fire,"  in  the  lumber  district,  where  the  loss  was 
$276,140.  The  section  from  which  the  alarm  of  the  great  fire 
was  sounded  was  known  to  be  a  dangerous  one ;  a  dry  season  of 
six  weeks'  duration  had  prevailed,  and  a  heavy  gale  was  blowing. 
The  fire  spread  rapidly  ;  a  general  alarm  was  sounded,  and  all  of 
the  department  was  soon  engaged  battling  with  the  flames. 
Their  efforts  were  of  no  avail  to  quell  the  conflagration.  Borne 
on  the  high  wind,  red-hot  cinders  and  pieces  of  burning  boards 
were  carried  from  four  blocks  to  half  a  mile  toward  the  center  of 
the  city  ;  new  fires  started,  and  the  whole  made  fearful  and  rapid 
progress.  In  one  hour  and  fifteen  minutes  the  fire  had  reduced 
thirty-two  blocks,  covering  an  area  of  eighty  acres,  to  ruin. 
About  this  time  it  crossed  the  south  branch  of  the  Chicago  river 
and  attacked  a  quarter  of  wooden  buildings  known  as  "  Conley's 
Patch."  From  here  the  fire  advanced  in  two  columns,  one  toward 
the  very  heart  of  the  city,  and  the  other  veering  slightly  to  the 
east.  The  gale  had  become  a  roaring  hurricane,  and  the  elements 
appeared  to  have  combined  to  wipe  the  proud  city  off  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  make  man's  puny  efforts  to  stay  the  progress  of 
the  fire  seem  weak  and  futile.     The  columns  of  fire  widened  out 


I32  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

as  they  advanced,  and  immense  business  blocks,  great  stores  full 
of  goods,  banks  with  their  vaults  of  wealth,  churches,  schools  and 
public  buildings  melted  down  one  after  another,  in  the  hot  blast. 
The  fire  reached  the  Board  of  Trade  about  1  :  20  a.  m.,  and  soon 
thereafter  attacked  the  Court  House,  and  when  the  walls  fell  and 
the  great  bell  came  clanging  down  from  the  toppling  dome,  it 
seemed  to  ring  the  knell  of  Chicago.  The  fire  raged  until  1  130 
a.  m.  Tuesday,  October  10,  when  its  force  was  spent,  but  it  had 
swept  over  an  area  of  over  2,000  acres,  destroyed  25,000  build- 
ings, and  entailed  a  loss  of  upward  of  $300,000,000  upon  the 
city.  The  process  of  recuperation  was  slow,  and  difficulty  was 
experienced  in  the  collection  of  the  taxes,  and  the  city  govern- 
ment necessarily  lacked  funds  to  carry  on  the  great  works 
demanded.  For  several  years  our  leading  capitalists,  who  had 
an  abiding  faith  in  the  future  of  the  city,  and  who  set  to  work  to 
rebuild  their  buildings  and  restore  their  fortunes,  were  hampered 
by  mortgages  and  the  demands  of  borrowed  capital.  Many 
never  recovered  from  the  blow,  but  even  in  their  impoverishment 
they  beheld  with  pride  the  queenly  city  arise  from  her  desolation 
and  again  sit  securely  enthroned  beside  the  great  lake,  midway 
of  the  continent,  wielding  the  scepter  of  commercial  power,  and 
resplendent  in  new  grandeur. 

Mayor  Mason's  second  message,  read  before  the  Common 
Council  December  5,  1870,  set  forth  in  regard  to  the  finances 
that  there  was  no  floating  debt ;  the  total  amount  of  cash  in  the 
city  treasury  was  $3,236,090. 78  ;  the  total  bonded  debt  of  the 
city  December  1,  1870,  was  $13,934,000,  less  $4,820,000  princi- 
pal and  interest  provided  to  be  paid  out  of  the  revenues  from 
the  waterworks,  and  $2,500,000  expended  for  deepening  the 
canal,  which  was  to  be  reimbursed  by  the  state,  leaving  net  city 
debt  December  1,  1870,  to  be  paid  from  taxation,  $6,611,000.  It 
was  stated  that  the  work  on  the  canal  would  be  completed  early 
in  1 87 1.  The  message  proceeded  as  follows:  "  Besides  the  ad- 
vantage of  drainage  gained  by  the  work,  the  navigation  of  nearly 
one-third  of  the  entire  canal  will  be  much  improved,  and  if  a 
comparatively  small  outlay  be  made  on  other  portions  of  the 
canal  to  obtain  a  greater  depth  of  water,  the  tonnage  of  boats 
can  be  increased  from  almost  150  to  200  tons'  burden. 

"And  in  the  completion  of  the  Illinois  river  improvement,  so 
as  to  give  good  water  communication  between  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis  during  the  entire  season  of  navigation,  the  business  of  the 
present  canal,  I  am  quite  sure,  would  be  more  than  doubled,  and 
it  would  regulate  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  rates  of  Eastern 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  33 

bound  freight  between  St.  Paul  and  St.  Louis.  There  is  no  pub- 
lic work  within  my  knowledge  that  can  be  completed  with  so 
small  an  expenditure,  and  the  advantages  of  which  would  be  so 
widely  diffused  as  the  Illinois  river  improvement.  By  the  com- 
pletion of  the  lock  and  dam  near  the  head  of  Peoria  lake,  which 
is  now  being  constructed  by  the  state,  and  is  in  rapid  progress, 
the  canal  will  be  substantially  extended  to  Peoria,  and,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  at  a  very  early  day,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river. 
The  city  of  Chicago  is  deeply  interested  in  the  completion  of 
this  work,  not  only  in  a  commercial  point  of  view,  but  as  a  means 
of  reimbursing  itself  at  an  early  day  for  the  large  expenditure 
now  being  made  on  the  canal.  *  *  *  Assuming  that  the 
total  of  saloon  licenses  issued  for  the  year  ending  July  i,  1871, 
will  be  2,300,  and  that  our  population  is  300,000,  this  gives  one 
saloon  for  every  130  inhabitants,  including  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren. If  we  assume  one-fifth  of  the  population  to  be  men  over 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  this  gives  one  saloon  for  every  twenty- 
six  men  in  the  city.  That  this  state  of  things  should  be  remedied 
in  some  way,  I  think,  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt,  and  it  may  be 
done  by  limiting  the  number  or  increasing  the  rate  of  saloon 
licenses.  I  earnestly  recommend  the  subject  to  your  careful 
consideration."  Prominent  among  Mayor  Mason/s  appointees 
were  J.  K.  Botsford,  Appraiser  of  School  Lands  ;  J.  E.  Chad- 
wick,  Fire  Commissioner  ;  Grant  Goodrich,  C.  G.  Hammond  and 
Louis  Wahl,  Inspectors  of  the  House  of  Correction;  G.  H. 
Laflin,  Guardian  of  the  Reform  School. 

The  last  regular  meeting  of  the  Council  prior  to  the  fire  was 
held  October  2.  A  special  meeting  was  called  for  October  10, 
when  an  ordinance  was  passed  to  prevent  extortion  in  the  sales 
of  food  to  sufferers  by  the  fire.  The  price  of  a  12-ounce  loaf  of 
bread  was  fixed  at  8  cents,  and  a  penalty  provided  for  any  viola- 
tion of  the  ordinance.  October  1 1  another  special  meeting  was 
held,  and  it  was  announced  that  at  an  informal  meeting  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  and  city  officials  it  had  been  decided  to  select 
the  High  School  and  the  Ogden  Primary  School  on  West  Mon- 
roe street  as  a  place  wherein  to  organize  the  city  government. 
This  action  not  being  satisfactory  to  all,  a  committee  of  nine  was 
appointed  to  select  a  suitable  building  wherein  to  locate  the  city 
offices.  Seven  members  of  this  committee  presented  a  report  in 
favor  of  the  Madison  street  police  station  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Council;  the  erection  of  temporary  buildings  on  the  Court  House 
square,  and  that  the  Board  of  Public  Works  cause  plans  to  be 
prepared  for  the  erection  of  a  permanent  building  on  the  City 


134  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Hall  site.  The  minority  favored  the  use  of  the  High  School 
building.  Business  having  gone  mainly  to  the  West  side  after 
the  fire,  many  believed  that  section  could  be  made  the  business 
section  of  the  new  Chicago.  The  West  side  Aldermen  voted  in 
favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  minority  report,  but  the  majority  re- 
port was  carried  by  a  vote  of  15  to  12.  At  this  meeting  a  com- 
munication was  received  from  Mayor  Mason,  stating  that  inas- 
much as  all  the  offices  of  the  city  government  were  located  by 
law  in  the  South  division,  he  had  located  his  office  temporarily  at 
the  corner  of  Wabash  avenue  and  Hubbard  court,  which  he 
hoped  would  give  general  satisfaction.  Mayor  Mason  thought 
if  temporary  city  buildings  were  located  on  the  City  Hall  site 
business  blocks  would  spring  up  around  them,  and  capital,  know- 
ing there  was  to  be  no  change  in  the  center  of  business,  would  at 
once  seek  investment  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  former  trade 
center. 

Roswell  B.  Mason  was  born  in  Hartford,  Oneida  county,  N. 
Y.,  in  1806.  When  seventeen  years  of  age  he  became  connected 
with  the  construction  of  the  Erie  canal,  and  studied  civil  engin- 
eering. In  1825  he  was  made  Chief  Engineer  and  Superinten- 
dent of  the  Morris  canal,  which  position  he  retained  for  six  years. 
In  1837  he  became  associated  with  the  Housatonic  railroad  in  the 
capacity  of  Chief  Engineer.  He  held  this  position  for  ten  years, 
and  then  became  Chief  Engineer  and  Superintendent  of  the  New 
York  and  New  Haven  railroad.  In  185 1  Mr.  Mason  came  West 
to  superintend  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad, 
which  was  completed  in  October,  1856.  The  building  of  this 
road  was  regarded  as  a  splendid  feat  of  engineering  skill,  and 
much  of  the  credit  of  the  enterprise  accrued  to  Mr.  Mason.  In 
i860  he  assumed  the  superintendency  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton 
railroad,  and  in  1861  he  was  appointed  Controller  of  the  Land 
Department  of  the  Illinois  Central,  which  office  he  held  until 
1867.  In  1865  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Public  Works,  from  which  he  resigned  in  1869  to  accept  the 
office  of  Mayor. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

NEW    CONSTITUTION CAMPAIGN    OF    1870 — THE   WENTWORTH-FAR- 

WELL  CONTEST THE  GREAT  FIRE ACTION  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF 

CHICAGO THE    "FIREPROOF"  TICKET THE    ELECTION — MAYOR 

MEDILL'S  ADMINISTRATION CONTEST  IN  THE  BOARD  OF  POLICE 

AND  FIRE  COMMISSIONERS THE    "  PEOPLE'S  PARTY  " VARIOUS 

MEETINGS MASS  MEETING  AT  KINGSBURY  HALL THE  CONVEN- 
TION  THE     LAW     AND     ORDER     PARTY THE     ELECTION THE 

GAGE    DEFALCATION MAYOR    COLVIN's    ADMINISTRATION THE 

HOYNE-COLVIN    CONTEST. 

In  December,  1869,  delegates  having  been  elected  to  a  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  to  amend,  alter  or  revise  the  State  Con- 
stitution of  1848,  which  the  state  had  outgrown,  the  convention 
met  at  Springfield  on  the  13th  inst.  The  delegates  from  Cook 
county  in  this  convention  were  Joseph  Medill,  S.  S.  Hayes,  John 
C.  Haines,  William  F.  Coolbaugh,  Charles  Hitchcock,  Elliott 
Anthony  and  Daniel  Cameron.  A  constitution  was  framed  which 
has  been  pronounced  one  of  the  best  instruments  of  the  kind 
ever  devised  for  the  government  of  any  commonwealth. 

The  state  campaign  of  1870  was  spiritless  and  devoid  of  is- 
sues and  interest.  The  principal  contest  in  Cook  county  was 
that  between  Charles  B.  Farwell  and  "Long  John"  Wentworth 
for  Congress,  in  the  First  district,  which  then  comprised  the 
North  division  of  the  city,  the  northern  half  of  Cook  county,  and 
all  of  Lake  county.  Thomas  Hoyne  was  nominated  by  the 
Democratic  Congressional  Convention,  but  he  declined  to  stand 
as  a  candidate.  In  the  Republican  Convention  Joseph  Medill 
and  Mr.  Farwell  both  were  candidates,  and  Mr.  Medill  was  de- 
feated for  the  nomination  by  some  twenty  votes.  Mr.  Medill, 
Horace  White  and  the  Tribune  were  opposed  to  Mr.  Farwell's 
election,  and  they,  together  with  a  few  leading  Democrats,  urged 
John  Wentworth  to  become  an  Independent  Democratic  candi- 
date, and  he  finally  consented  to  make  the  race.  It  was  thought 
Mr.  Wentworth  would,  by  combining  the  votes  of  the  dissatisfied 
Republicans  and  the  Democrats,  be  able  to  defeat  Mr.  Farwell, 
but  the  Irish  Democrats  voted  almost  solidly  for  the  latter  and 

(^35) 


I36  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

elected  him.  It  was  in  this  campaign  that  the  Tribune  affixed 
the  political  sobriquet  of  "Poker  Charley"  to  Mr.  Farwell,  and  it 
is  said  to  have  originated  in  the  inadvertent  offer  of  Mr.  Far- 
well  to  "raise"  on  a  good  hand  which  he  held  at  an  evening  whist 
party.  Mr.  Farwell  received  20,342  votes,  and  Mr.  Wentworth 
15,025.  This  was  the  last  time  Mr.  Wentworth  was  a  candidate 
for  any  office.  In  the  Second  district  John  F.  Farnsworth  was 
re-elected,  receiving  8,396  votes  to  6,516  for  J.  C.  Stoughton,  and 
2,349  for  Richard  Bishop.  The  new  constitution  provided  for 
increased  representation,  and  the  Twenty-seventh  General  As- 
sembly of  1 87 1  was  the  largest  ever  convened  at  the  capital,  con- 
sisting of  fifty  Senators  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  Rep- 
resentatives. 

October  13  this  Legislature,  in  accordance  with  the  procla- 
mation of  Governor  Palmer,  issued  October  10,  met  in  special 
session  to  take  action  with  reference  to  the  great  calamity  of 
the  Chicago  fire.  The  cry  of  homeless  thousands  for  help  had 
gone  forth,  and  the  needs  of  the  crippled  municipality  were 
urgent.  The  emergency  was  great,  and  Gov."  Palmer  notified  all 
members  of  the  Senate  and  House  by  telegraph  of  his  proclama- 
tion, and  at  the  appointed  time  they  were  in  their  seats  ready 
for  action.  A  clause  in  the  new  Constitution  of  1870  forbade  all 
special  legislation,  and  there  was  great  doubt  as  to  the  ability  of 
the  Legislature  to  take  effective  and  legal  action  for  the  relief  of 
the  stricken  city.  Governor  Palmer,  however,  recognized  the 
fact  that  something  must  be  done,  and  he  issued  a  message  in 
which  he  pointed  out  the  manner  in  which  relief  might  be  af- 
forded. The  Legislature  had  passed  an  act  in  1S65,  providing 
for  the  completion  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  plan  adopted  by  the  state  in  1836,  and  intrusting 
the  work  to  the  city  of  Chicago,  restricting  the  expenditure  to 
$2,500,000,  which  was  ultimately  to  be  paid  by  the  state.  The 
city  had  already  expended  in  this  work  the  full  amount  limited 
by  the  act  of  1865,  and  the  Legislature,  pursuant  to  Gov.  Palm- 
er's advice,  promptly  made  an  appropriation  of  $3,000,000,  cover- 
ing principal  and  interest  of  the  investment,  to  re-imburse  the 
city,  on  the  payment  of  which  the  canal  was  surrendered  to  the 
control  and  management  of  the  state.  In  his  outgoing  message 
Gov.  Palmer  referred  to  the  clash  of  the  state  and  Federal  gov- 
ernments at  the  time  of  the  Chicago  fire,  in  regard  to  the  respec- 
tive duties  of  each  at  that  time.  Gov.  Palmer  contended  that 
the  state  was  able  to  preserve  order  and  protect  the  property  of 
its  citizens,  and  that  the  national  authority,  if  exercised  at  all,  was 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I37 

to  be  subordinate  to  the  state  authority.  Among  the  well-known 
Chicagoans  in  this  Legislature  were,  in  the  Senate,  John  C.  Dore, 
John  N.  Jewett,  Willard  Woodard,  John  L.  Beveridge  and  Arte- 
mas  Carter,  the  latter  succeeding  Senator  Beveridge  upon  his  res- 
ignation. In  the  House  were  James  L.  Campbell,  Carlisle  Ma- 
son, Wiley  M.  Egan,  R.  P.  Derrickson,  A.  L.  Morrison,  A.  J. 
Galloway,  H.  B.  Brayton,  S.  D.  Phelps,  James  P.  Root,  William 
H.  King,  Arthur  Dixon,  A.  H.  Burley,  William  Vocke  and  W. 
K.  Sullivan. 

The  remnant  of  the  supporters  of  the  "  Peoples'  ticket "  com- 
bined with  the  Republicans  in  the  fall  of  1871,  and  at  a  conven- 
tion held  in  the  High  school  building  on  West  Monroe  street 
formed  the  "Fireproof"  ticket,  and  nominated  Joseph  Medill, 
editor  of  the  Tribune,  for  Mayor.  The  Democrats  nominated 
as  his  opponent,  Charles  C.  P.  Holden,  who  had  been  Alderman 
of  the  Fourth  Ward,  and  President  of  the  Common  Council  un- 
der the  Mason  administration.  David  A.  Gage,  who  had  been 
elected  City  Treasurer  on  the  "Peoples'  ticket,"  was  renominated 
on  the  "Fireproof"  ticket.  It  was  subsequently  charged  that 
his  nomination  was  forced  by  a  "ring"  that  desired  his  re-election 
in  order  to  cover  up  enormous  frauds  upon  the  City  Treasury. 
It  was  not  known  at  this  time  that  Gage  was  a  defaulter  to  the 
amount  of  $503,703.58.  The  city  election  took  place  Tuesday, 
November  7,  and  resulted  as  follows : 

MAYOR. 

Joseph  Medill, 16,125 

C.  C.  P.  Holden, 5,988 

CITY    TREASURER. 

David  A.  Gage, 16,155 

Kyler  K.  Jones, 5>730 

*  CITY  COLLECTOR. 

George  Von  Hollen, 13.896 

William  J.  Onahan,       -  -  -  8,219 

CITY    ATTORNEY. 

Israel  N.  Stiles, 1 5,2 1 7 

Patrick  McHugh, 6,406 

CLERK  OF  POLICE  COURT. 

Canute  R.  Matson, 16,068 

Albert  Michaelson, 6,003 

POLICE  MAGISTRATES. 

South  Division. 

John  Summerfield, x3>634 

John  Fitzgibbon, 5,278 


I38  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

West   Division. 

P.  T.  Sherlock, 14.972 

Richard  J.  Barrett, 5,895 

North  Division. 

William  H.  Stickney, 13*251 

Nathan  M.  Plotke,              -         -         -.  5,085 

ALDERMANIC  VOTE. 

First  Ward,  Chauncey  T.  Bowen,  643  ;  Jacob  Becker,  64. 
Second  Ward,  Arthur  Dixon,  990.  Third  Ward,  J.  W.  McGin- 
niss,  1,216  ;  J.  A.  Montgomery,  188  ;  A.  B.  Sheldon,  245. 
Fourth  Ward,  J.  H.  McAvoy,  1,489;  Moses  A.  Thayer,  36. 
Fifth  Ward,  R.  B.  Stone,  563  ;  Moore  Conger,  290.  Sixth 
Ward,  Philip  Ready,  678  ;  William  Tracy,  696.  Seventh  Ward, 
William  Rawleigh,  344;  Edward  F.  Cullerton,  415  ;  Patrick  Mc- 
Clowry,  296.  Eighth  Ward,  J.  Clowry,  702  ;  W.  S.  Powell,  335  ; 
Philip  Moser,  271.  Ninth  Ward,  James  McMullen,  680  ;  Patrick 
Rafferty,  550;  George  Powell,  792.  Tenth  Ward,  L.  L.  Bond, 
891  ;  Alonzo  Snider,  413.  Eleventh  Ward,  Henry  Sweet,  530  ; 
James  Walsh,  470  ;  C.  F.  Periolat,  284.  Twelfth  Ward,  Monroe 
Heath,  1,250.  Thirteenth  Ward,  George  W.  Sherwood,  653  ; 
J.  L.  Campbell,  583.  Fourteenth  Ward,  S.  E.  Cleveland,  618; 
Thomas  McNamara,  109;  James  Pyne,  126.  Fifteenth  Ward, 
John  Vant  Woud,  543  ;  J.  J.  McGrath,  971.  Sixteenth  Ward, 
Thomas  Stout,  559  ;  Brice  A.  Miller,  258.  Seventeenth  Ward, 
Adolph  Misch,  64  ;  A.  D.  Skinner,  79  ;  Jacob  Lengacher,  365. 
Eighteenth  Ward,  Owen  McCarthy,  190;  Thomas  Carney,  593. 
Nineteenth  Ward,  Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  310  ;  James  McCauley,  45, 
Twentieth  Ward,  Charles  L.  Woodman,  515  ;  Philip  A.  Hoyne, 
44;  Thomas  D.  Reilly,  52. 

Twenty  constables  were  elected,  but  they  were  not  sworn 
in  by  the  Council,  there  being  doubts  as  to  the  legality  of  their 
election,  and  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  Corporation  Counsel 
for  an  opinion.  A  report  was  made  to  the  Council  November 
27,  signed  by  Murray  F.  Tuley,  Corporation  Counsel,  I.  N.  Stiles, 
City  Attorney,  and  the  members  of  the  Committee  on  Judiciary, 
in  which  the  opinion  was  expressed  that  there  could  be  no  valid 
election  for  constables,  unless  in  the  Fifteenth  and  Twentieth 
wards  respectively,  where  there  were  vacancies.  It  was  advised 
that  no  certificates  be  issued  to  any  of  the  majority  candidates, 
and  that  they  be  left  to  the  legal  remedies,  if  any.  Owing  to  the 
destruction  of  the  City  Hall,  waterworks,  police  stations,  and  all 
public  departments,  together  with  the  records,  by  the  great  fire, 
the  city  became  deeply  involved  in  debt,  from  which  the  process 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  1 39 

of  recuperation  was  slow  and  expensive.  A  great  quantity  of 
city  "scrip"  was  issued  by  successive  administrations,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  cash  collected  from  tax  levies  was  required  to 
pay  the  interest  on  the  bonded  debt,  and  to  redeem  scrip.  The 
treasury  was  further  left  in  a  disordered  state  by  the  reduction  of 
the  tax  levy  to  10  mills  immediately  after  the  fire.  The  Consti- 
tution prohibited  the  city  from  borrowing  beyond  the  limit  of 
the  next  annual  tax  levy,  and  to  avoid  this  restriction  and  yet  ob- 
tain funds,  the  Council  of  1872-3  issued  scrip  in  a  still  more  lavish 
and  reckless  manner. 

During  the  first  part  of  his  term  Mayor  Medill  was  opposed 
to  the  closing  of  the  saloons  on  Sunday,  but  being  urged  by  a 
citizens'  committee  of  fifteen,  representing  a  supposed  popular 
demand,  he  yielded  to  these  influences.  In  1872  he  was  an  ardent 
supporter  of  the  Sunday  closing  idea,  and  in  January  he  prompt- 
ly vetoed  an  ordinance  passed  by  the  Council  late  in  December 
repealing  the  Sunday  liquor  law.  In  his  veto  message  Mayor 
Medill  said  he  did  not  believe  a  majority  of  the  people  wanted 
liquor  sold  on  Sunday,  and  would  like  to  see  the  question  put  to 
a  popular  vote.  In  November,  1873,  tne  popular  vote  was  taken, 
and  the  result  was  the  overwhelming  victory  of  the  hybrid  com- 
bination known  as  the  "  Peoples'  party."  Certain  complications 
arising  under  the  "Fireproof"  administration  of  Mayor  Medill 
are  alleged  by  his  political  critics  to  have  brought  about  the  utter 
rout  of  the  Republican  local  organization,  the  formation  of  the 
"  Peoples'  party,"  and  a  long  train  of  ensuing  evils.  A  "  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  "  waited  upon  Mayor  Medill  to  urge  the  rigid 
enforcement  of  the  Sunday  saloon  closing  law.  This  committee 
was  a  part  of  the  "  Committee  of  Seventy,"  an  organization  com- 
posed of  leading  citizens  and  a  large  number  of  clergymen,  or- 
ganized shortly  after  the  great  fire  to  promote  moral  reforms, 
among  which  was  the  attempted  enforcement  of  temperance 
restrictions  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  state  liquor  law, 
and  at  a  time  when  temperance  and  prohibitory  agitation  was 
prevalent  throughout  the  country.  To  the  unrestricted  sale  of 
liquor  was  attributed  by  the  committee  the  great  prevalence  of 
lawlessness  and  crime  which  had  been  a  matter  of  the  utmost 
public  concern  since  the  time  of  the  fire,  when  criminals  from 
every  section  of  the  country  drifted  into  Chicago.  The  manage- 
ment of  the  police  force  and  the  fire  department  also  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Board  of  Police  and  Fire  Commissioners,  which 
had  become  reorganized  at  the  time  of  the  election  of  the  Fire- 
proof ticket  by  the  addition  of  Mancel  Talcott  and  Jacob  Rehm, 


I40  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

and  subsequently,  in  the  spring  of  1872,  by  the  appointment  by 
Mayor  Medill  of  E.  F.  C.  Klokke  to  the  Board,  to  succeed  Jacob 
Rehm,  resigned.  To  the  police  power  the  public  looked  for 
safety  and  protection  of  life  and  property.  July  29,  1872,  Mayor 
Medill  removed  Superintendent  of  Police  Kennedy,  and  three 
weeks  thereafter  made  Elmer  Washburne  Superintendent  of  the 
force.  Mr.  Washburne  was  the  Warden  of  the  state  penitentiary 
at  Joliet,  and  the  opponents  of  the  Fireproof  administration 
maintained  that  Mayor  Medill's  selection  of  a  head  for  the  de- 
partment at  this  critical  time  was  unwise,  for  the  reason  that  Mr. 
Washburne  was  unacquainted  with  the  duties  of  the  office,  igno- 
rant of  the  ramifications  of  crime  in  a  great  city,  and  inexper- 
ienced in  the  management  of  a  force  of  men  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  the  direction  of  superiors  who  had  been  promoted 
from  the  ranks.  Besides  the  agitation  conducted  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Seventy,  a  Committee  of  Twenty-five,  representing  the 
three  divisions  of  the  city,  was  appointed  at  a  meeting  of  citi- 
zens held  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  Market  street,  Sep- 
tember 12,  and  presided  over  by  Henry  Greenebaum.  Septem- 
ber 30  the  Committee  of  Seventy  were  addressed  by  Mancel  Tal- 
cott,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners,  who 
coincided  with  their  views,  and  insisted  that  the  epidemic  of  law- 
lessness and  crime  was  caused  mainly  by  drunkenness,  and 
advocated  as  a  partial  remedy  the  closing  of  the  saloons  on  Sun- 
day. The  Sub-Committee  of  Fifteen  was  thereupon  sent  to 
Mayor  Medill  to  urge  the  enforcement  of  the  Sunday  closing 
ordinance.  Mayor  Medill,  in  response  to  the  committee  said  that 
the  movement  was  impracticable,  for  the  reason  that  both  sellers 
and  purchasers  would  deem  it  an  arbitrary  and  inconsistent  inter- 
ference with  their  prerogatives  on  one  certain  day  out  of  the 
seven  in  the  week  ;  that  the  law  was  directed  against  the  keepers 
alone  and  not  against  the  drinkers  as  well,  therefore  being  dis- 
criminating ;  and  further,  because  it  would  require  one  police- 
man for  each  drinking  place  to  see  that  the  law  was  enforced,  or 
say  3,000  altogether,  whereas  the  tax-fighters  made  it  hard  work 
to  support  a  force  of  450  policemen.  The  Committee  published 
a  reply  on  October  8,  claiming  that  although  the  liquor  interest 
was  active  and  united,  and  exerted  a  controlling  influence  in 
politics,  the  facts  went  to  show  that  whenever  an  honest  effort 
had  been  made  to  enforce  the  Sunday  liquor  law  it  had  been 
successful,  and  accusing  the  administration  of  cowardice.  Mayor 
Medill  claimed  this  reply  to  be  unfair,  but  on  October  10  he  sent 
a  communication  to  the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners  in  which 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  141 

he  referred  to  newspaper  reports  in  reference  to  a  conference  be- 
tween members  of  the  Committee  and  the  Board,  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  the  Board  anticipated  no  serious  trouble  in  enforcing 
the  law,  and  concluding  with  an  order  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
law,  as  contained  in  section  4,  chapter  25,  of  the  city  ordinances, 
and  all  other  ordinances  relating  thereto.  October  25  the  Com- 
mittee of  Seventy  issued  an  address  to  the  people  in  which  the 
closing  of  the  saloons  on  Sunday  was  advocated.  The  German 
saloonkeepers  deemed  all  of  this  agitation  and  effort  to  enforce 
the  Sunday  law  an  infringement  upon  their  rights,  and  agitators 
began  to  denounce  the  Committee  of  Seventy  as  a  relic  of  "Know- 
nothingism."  A  committee  of  Germans  waited  on  Mayor  Medill 
and  went  away  satisfied  that  his  personal  predilections  were 
favorable  to  their  views.  October  28  the  Committee  of  Twenty- 
five,  which  has  been  referred  to,  met,  and  a  majority  of  the 
members  were  in  favor  of  the  enforcement  of  the  Sunday  law. 
Henry  Greenebaum  thereupon  resigned  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee. December  2,  1872,  Mancel  Talcott  resigned  from  the 
Board  of  Police  Commissioners,  and  C.  A.  Reno  was  appointed 
President  of  the  Board,  which  was  now  composed  of  Reno,  Sheri- 
dan and  Klokke.  The  discontent  in  the  police  force  increased, 
and  Superintendent  Washburne  got  into  a  contest  of  authority 
with  the  Board.  Charges  were  preferred  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Board  against  Superintendent  Washburne  of  neglect  of  duty,  in- 
competency, and  disobedience  of  the  orders  of  the  Board,  and 
Dr.  Ward  was  appointed  acting  Superintendent.  The  Mayor 
sustained  Washburne  by  removing  from  the  Board  Commis- 
sioners Reno  and  Klokke,  but  the  Board  refused  to  recognize 
the  authority  of  the  Mayor,  claiming  they  were  appointed  under 
Commissions  from  the  Governor,  and  instructing  Dr.  Ward  to 
recognize  no  other  authority  than  that  of  the  Board.  February 
24,  1873,  Carlisle  Mason  and  L.  P.  Wright  presented  certificates 
from  the  Mayor  of  their  appointment  to  the  Board,  which  the 
Council  had  confirmed.  Commissioner  Mark  Sheridan  addressed 
the  Board,  saying  that  he  felt  that  his  duty  to  the  public  would 
compel  him  to  act  with  Messrs.  Mason  and  Wright.  The  Mayor 
and  Comptroller  having  refused  to  adjust  the  claims  of  persons 
who  had  furnished  supplies  to  the  department,  there  was  no 
doubt  in  his  mind  that  the  Mayor  and  Comptroller  would  rec- 
ognize Messrs.  Mason  and  Wrieht,  and  while  he  had  no  doubt 
as  to  the  legality  of  the  claims  of  Messrs.  Reno  and  Klokke,  and 
if  he  acted  he  should  do  so  under  protest,  he  was  constrained  to 
act  with   Messrs.  Mason  and  Wright  in  order  to  advance  the  in- 


I42  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

terests  of  the  city  and  maintain  the  efficiency  of  the  police  and 
fire  departments.  He  was  satisfied  that  the  power  claimed  by 
the  Mayor  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  act  known  as  the  "  Mayors' 
Bill  "  was  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  republican  institutions,  and 
that  even  if  the  power  did  exist,  the  arbitrary  exercise  of  it  would 
not  be  justified  or  sustained  by  the  courts.  February  26  the 
Board  as  newly  constituted,  dismissed  the  charges  against  Super- 
intendent Washburne,  and  April  7  the  Board  sustained  the 
Mayor  in  the  dismissal  from  the  force  of  Sergeants  Rehm,  Bis- 
choff,  Douglas  and  Macauley,  they  having  obeyed  the  orders  of 
the  Board  and  the  acting  Superintendent,  Dr.  Ward.  April  28 
Superintendent  Washburne  issued  an  order  to  the  police  force 
to  enforce  the  Sunday  closing  ordinance.  Commissioner  Sheri- 
dan opposed  the  enforcement  of  the  order,  and  failing  to  con- 
vince the  Mayor  that  it  was  unwise,  entered  his  protest  upon  the 
records  of  the  Board,  in  which  was  quoted  section  6,  article  2,  of 
the  Constitution  :  "  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons,  houses,  papers  and  effects  against  unreasonable  searches 
and  seizures  shall  not  be  violated."  Messrs.  Mason  and  Wright 
entered  upon  the  records  a  resolution  denouncing  Commissioner 
Sheridan's  protest  as  incendiary  in  character,  and  as  tending  to 
incite  the  police  force  to  disobey  the  orders  of  the  Board.  From 
this  time  on  for  three  months  conflicts  of  authority  in  the  Board 
were  frequent,  at  one  time  Commissioner  Sheridan  and  Superin- 
tendent Washburne  narrowly  escaping  coming  to  blows.  July 
12  Capt.  M.  C.  Hickey  resigned  from  the  force,  and  July  29 
Commissioner  Mason  resigned  from  the  Board  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Reuben  Cleveland.  It  was  now  but  three  months 
before  another  city  election  was  to  be  held,  and  in  addition  to 
the  trouble  over  the  police  management  rumors  became  preva- 
lent of  a  probable  shortage  in  the  accounts  of  City  Treasurer 
David  A.  Gage.  Various  meetings  had  been  held  during  the 
summer  in  which  Mayor  Medill's  administration  was  denounced 
as  a  flat  failure,  and  it  was  plainly  apparent  that  the  growing  un- 
rest and  dissatisfaction  was  destined  to  find  expression  in  a 
sweeping  political  movement.  Agitators  and  demagogues  were 
working  among  the  foreign-born  element ;  the  Democrats,  who 
were  almost  solidly  opposed  to  Mr.  Medill,  helped  along  the 
growing  movement,  and  finally  the  "  Peoples'  party  "grew  out  of 
a  series  of  mass  meetings,  controlled  and  addressed  in  the  main 
by  people  whose  subsequent  greediness  for  the  spoils  of  office 
was  evidence  that  personal  ambition  and  gain  were  the  strongest 
incentives  of  their  action. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  I43 

THE    PEOPLE'S    PARTY. 

The  "  People's  party"  was  therefore  the  outgrowth  of  a  pub- 
lic feeling-  against  the  Medill  administration,  and  a  movement  in 
favor  of  personal  liberty.  It  was  anti-Washburne,  anti-Gage, 
anti-Sunday  closing,  and  against  the  "tax-fighters."  The  first 
important  meeting  was  held  May  14  in  Thielman's  Theatre  on 
Clybourne  avenue.  This  meeting  was  addressed  by  many  prom- 
inent Germans,  among  the  number  being  A.  Hottinger,  Adolph 
Schoeninger,  A.  C.  Hesing,  Mr.  Knoblesdorf  and  Aid.  Lenga- 
cher.  At  this  meeting  H.  B.  (Buffalo)  Miller  renounced  the  Re- 
publican party.  Suitable  resolutions  were  adopted  and  a  plan  of 
action  agreed  upon.  A  great  mass  meeting  was  held  May  20  at 
Aurora  Turner  Hall  on  Milwaukee  avenue.  Ex-Aid.  John 
Buehler  acted  as  chairman,  and  the  speakers  were  A.  C.  Hesing, 
Francis  A.  Hoffman,  Jr.,  Emil  Dietzsch,  Gen.  Hermann  Lieb 
and  others.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Turngemeinde  held 
in  the  North  side  Turner  Hall  May  21  resolutions  were  adopted 
denouncing  all  legislation  and  official  action  opposed  to  personal 
liberty,  and  inviting  all  liberal  societies  to  select  five  members 
each  for  "  mutual  consultation  and  united  action."  May  24  and 
29  the  Tribune  contained  articles  showing  that  the  Germans 
were  drifting  away  from  the  Republican  party,  and  that  the 
movement  was  rapidly  spreading.  On  the  evening  of  May  29 
delegates  from  eight  or  ten  liberal  meetings  met  in  Bismarck 
hall  in  the  Teutonic  building  and  selected  an  "Agitation  Com- 
mittee"  composed  of  Messrs.  Conrad  Niehoff,  Richard  Michaelis, 
A.  C.  Hesing,  Carl  Bluhm,  Peter  Hand,  L.  Schwuchow,  Francis 
A.  Hoffman,  Jr.,  Frank  Schweinfurth,  William  Floto,  C.  Tegt- 
meier,  Dr.  Matthei,  Max  Eberhardt,  Emil  Muhlke,  R.  Thieme, 
J.  Schiellinger,  G.  R.  Korn,  William  Schwarz,  B.  Eisendrath, 
Carl  Dahinten,  Philip  Stein,  H.  Schandlin,  W.  Schaeffer,  R. 
Freiberg,  R.  Christiansen,  J.  C.  Meyer,  A.  Erbe,  F.  Sengi  and 
editors  of  the  German  papers.  This  committee  formulated  an 
address  and  resolutions  which  were  presented  June  25  in  Bis- 
marck hall  to  the  "  Central  Committee,"  which  had  in  the  mean- 
time been  organized.  These  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously 
adopted  as  the  incentive  of  the  new  organization,  recited  that  the 
temperance  and  Sunday  laws  were  obnoxious  to  a  large  and  re- 
spectable portion  of  our  people ;  that  the  civil  service  of  the 
general,  state  and  local  governments  had  become  a  mere  instru- 
ment of  partisan  tyranny  and  personal  ambition  ;  that  the  arrest 
of  any  person  whose  offense  was  only  punishable  by  a  fine  instead 
of  procedure  by  mere  process  of  summons  was  an  outrage,  and 


144  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

that  the  police  power  of  the  state,  county  or  city  should  not  be 
wielded  in  the  interest  of  fractions  of  society.  The  resolutions 
further  denounced  intemperance  in  all  things,  advised  the  ap- 
pointment of  inspectors  of  all  beverages  sold  to  detect  impuri- 
ties, and  recommended  that  an  ordinance  be  passed  prohibiting 
the  granting  of  licenses  to  persons  of  bad  repute,  and  declaring 
as  a  cardinal  principle  that  a  person  should  be  held  responsible 
only  for  his  own  wrong  doing,  and  for  this  reason  that  not  land- 
lords but  saloonkeepers  be  held  accountable  for  liquor  sold  on 
premises,  and  not  saloonkeepers  but  drunkards  responsible  for 
the  habit  of  drunkenness.  At  this  meeting  it  was  agreed  on  the 
suggestion  of  Mr.  A.  C.  Hesing,  to  hold  a  mass  meeting.  The 
movement  had  gained  such  a  headway  by  this  time  that  a  num- 
ber of  Democratic  leaders  thought  it  wise  to  favor  it,  and  a 
meeting  was  held  Sunday  afternoon,  August  31,  1873,  in  Greene- 
baum's  bank,  at  which  were  present  among  others  J.  H.  Mc- 
Avoy,  Barney  G.  Caulfield,  W.  J.  Onahan,  George  Von  Hollen, 
Jacob  Rehm,  Michael  Evans,  P.  M.  Cleary,  John  Corcoran, 
Thomas  Brennan,  Michael  Kelley,  Justice  Boyden,  A.  C.  Hes- 
ing, Hermann  Lieb,  Peter  Hunt,  Edward  O'Neil,  Amo  Voss,  R. 
Kenney,  J.  Bonfield,  Edward  Phillips  and  Adolph  Schoeninger. 
The  speakers  denounced  the  Medill  administration  as  leaning  to 
despotism,  and  for  having  sold  out  to  the  "  Law  and  Order" 
men.  A  committee  was  selected  to  confer  with  the  Committee 
of  Agitation  in  reference  to  holding  a  mass  meeting.  After  sev- 
eral meetings  of  conference  had  been  held  a  joint  committee  on 
political  action  was  appointed,  on  which  the  various  nationalities 
were  represented.  This  latter  committee,  Friday  evening,  Sep- 
tember 26,  1873,  adopted  a  call  for  a  mass  meeting  to  be  held  at 
Kingsbury  hall  on  Clark  street  Saturday  evening,  October  4. 
This  meeting  was  one  of  the  most  notable  in  the  political  annals 
of  the  city.  Long  before  8  o'clock,  the  hour  set  for  the  meeting 
to  open,  Clark  street  was  filled  with  the  enthusiastic  followers  of 
the  movement,  and  many  attractive  transparencies  were  paraded 
containing  striking  inscriptions,  such  as,  "If  Puritans  rule,  the 
country  is  gone;"  "The  people  will  reform  our  politics;" 
"Good-bye,  Joe  ;  don't  you  wish  you  had  joined  the  People's 
party?"  "  Send  Washburne  home  to  Joliet  ;  "  "  Who  resists  the 
payment  of  taxes  ?  The  leaders  of  the  Law  and  Order  party  ;  " 
"Equal  rights  to  all;  Down  with  fanatics;"  "The  Nine- 
teenth ward  good  for  1,000  majority."  H.  B.  Miller  occupied 
the  chair  of  the  meeting,  and  the  speakers  were  Barney  G.  Caul- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  I45 

field,  Anton  C.  Hesing  and  others.  The  following  was  adopted 
as  the  platform  of  the  party  : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  present  state  of  the  public  finances 
it  is  imperatively  necessary  that  our  city  and  county  affairs  be 
managed  in  the  most  economical  manner,  and  the  public  moneys 
be  handled  as  carefully  and  frugally  as  possible,  in  order  that 
our  increased  municipal  taxation  be  reduced  to  a  just  and  dis- 
criminating government,  and  the  expenditures  be  made,  not  for 
the  benefit  of  any  particular  class,  but  for  the  benefit  of  the  en- 
tire community. 

Resolved,  That  the  education  of  the  youth  of  our  country  is 
one  of  the  most  effective  agencies  for  the  suppression  and  pre- 
vention of  crime  ;  that  this  object  is  much  better  attained  by  the 
instruction  of  our  children  in  the  public  schools  than  to  attempt 
to  enforce  morality  by  legislation. 

Resolved,  That  the  cause  of  temperance  is  deserving  of  the 
aid  and  assistance  of  every  good  man.  Intemperance  in  all 
things  whatever  ought  to  be  combated  with  all  suitable  means. 
But  we  hold  that  the  desirable  object  of  temperance  can  only  be 
accomplished  by  elevating  the  moral  standard  of  the  people 
through  enlightened  education,  and  not  by  sumptuary  laws  or 
special  legislation. 

Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  pursuit  of  happiness  as  one 
of  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  citizen,  and  every  one  should  be 
left  free  to  exercise  his  right  without  let  or  hindrance,  except 
under  such  restrictions  as  are  imposed  by  constitutional  law; 
and  while  we  believe  that  on  Sunday  all  business  and  amuse- 
ments should  be  restricted  as  in  no  measure  to  interfere  with  or 
disturb  the  devotion  or  worship  of  any  class  of  citizens,  yet  we 
firmly  deny  the  right  of  any  one  or  any  class  of  individuals  to 
prescribe  how  or  in  what  manner  Sunday  or  any  day  shall  be  en- 
joyed by  a  free  people  in  a  free  republic. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  an  ordi- 
nance prohibiting  the  granting  of  licenses  to  persons  of  bad 
repute  for  any  purpose  or  purposes  whatsoever. 

Resolved,  That  there  ought  also  to  be  appointed  by  the 
proper  authorities  inspectors  of  all  beverages  sold  publicly,  and 
those  found  impure  and  deteriorated  ought  to  be  condemned,  and 
dealers  therein  fined. 

Resolved,  That  we  look  with  deep  regret  and  apprehension 
upon  the  demoralized  condition  of  our  police  department.  In- 
stead of  serving  as  a  department  for  the  protection  of  life  and 
property  of  the  people,  it  has  been  used  as  an  instrument  of  op- 


I46  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

pression  in  the  hands  of  a  class  of  prejudiced  and  narrow-minded 
men,  and  that  we  deprecate  that  the  legitimate  duties  of  the 
police  force  have  been  prostituted  to  gratify  the  intolerant  spirit 
of  a  minority  faction. 

Resolved,  That  the  frequent  arbitrary  arrest  of  our  citizens, 
in  cases  where  fines  only  are  imposed  for  breach  of  city  ordi- 
nances, is  a  gross  outrage  and  a  violation  of  constitutional  rights, 
and  should  not  be  tolerated  by  a  free  and  enlightened  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  consider  it  a  cardinal  principle  that  a 
person  should  be  held  liable  for  his  own  wrong  only ;  and  for 
that  reason  we  consider  as  unjustifiable  the  statutory  enactment 
making  the  owner  or  landlord  of  premises  which  have  been 
rented  for  lawful  pursuits  responsible  for  the  neglect  or  misde- 
meanor of  his  tenants,  and  for  the  same  reason  we  demand  that 
drunkards  be  held  strictly  accountable  for  their  acts  committed 
while  drunk. 

Resolved,  That  the  principles  we  represent  in  our  platform 
and  resolutions  are  conducive  to  law  and  order  ;  and  while  we 
appeal  to  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  community  at  large, 
regardless  of  all  party  affiliations,  to  indorse  them,  and  the  action 
that  we  have  deemed  proper  to  take  in  this  municipal  contest  in 
opposition  to  a  spirit  of  intolerance,  we  pledge  ourselves  that  we 
shall  abide  by  law  and  order,  and  denounce  any  faction  that  arro- 
gates to  itself  that  name  ;  and  to  this  end  we  shall  oppose  every 
candidate  for  office  who  is  not  in  sympathy  with  the  foregoing 
resolutions. 

Mr.  J.  K.  C.  Forrest  offered  an  additional  declaration  of 
principles,  which  was  adopted  and  incorporated  in  the  platform, 
calling  upon  the  President  to  call  a  special  meeting  of  Congress 
to  take  action  regarding  the  demoralized  condition  of  trade  and 
commerce,  and  issue  enough  legal  tender  currency  to  relieve  the 
stringency  of  the  times,  said  currency  to  be  based  upon  national 
securities,  and  at  such  high  rates  of  interest  as  would  attract  it 
again  to  the  treasury  upon  the  restoration  of  private  and  cor- 
porate credit. 

The  convention  of  the  People's  party  to  nominate  city  and 
county  tickets,  to  be  voted  for  in  the  ensuing  election,  was  held 
at  No.  205  Randolph  street,  October  24,  Henry  Greenebaum 
presiding.  Resolutions  offered  by  A.  C.  Hesing,  F.  H.  Winston, 
and  others,  were  adopted,  one  of  which  recommended  to  the 
Mayor  to  be  elected  the  appointment  of  S.  S.  Hayes  as  City 
Comptroller,  and  the  convention  adopted  the  Kingsbury  hall 
platform.     The  proposition  of  certain  Democratic  leaders  to  in- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY  AND  ILLINOIS.  147 

dorse  the  People's  party  ticket  had  met  with  opposition,  and  a 
few  Democrats  had  pledged  support  to  the  "Law  and  Order" 
ticket,  which  had  been  nominated  at  the  Grand  Pacific  hotel, 
Saturday,  October  18.  Before  the  People's  party  convention 
proceeded  to  make  nominations,  Mr.  Hesing  introduced  the  fol- 
lowing communication  from  the  Democratic  County  Central  Com- 
mittee, which  as  will  be  seen,  had  taken  on  the  name  "Liberal" 
also  : 

We,  the  undersigned  members  of  the  Liberal  and  Democratic 
Central  and  Executive  Committee  of  Cook  county,  hereby  certify 
that  we  have  not  authorized  any  person  for  us  to  pledge  the  sup- 
port of  the  party,  as  a  party,  to  what  is  known  as  the  "Grand 
Pacific  hotel"  nominations,  or  to  any  other  nominations,  made 
or  to  be  made  ;  and  believing  it  to  be  inexpedient  to  make  any 
nominations  as  a  party  at  this  time,  we  leave  to  all  persons  the 
privilege  of  supporting  such  candidates  in  this  local  election  as 
their  judgment  and- conscience  may  dictate. 

And  we  may  say  that  we  beheld  with  surprise  the  announce- 
ment in  the  papers  that  parts  of  our  Committee  had  participated 
in,  and  indorsed,  the  said  Grand  Pacific  hotel  nominations  ;  and 
we  further  say  that  neither  of  the  three  named  persons  who  pre- 
tended to  represent  the  party  at  the  Grand  Pacific  hotel  are 
members  of  the  Liberal  and  Democratic  Central  Committee  of 
Cook  county,  and  consequently  have  no  authority  to  pledge  the 
party  to  any  nominations,  except  as  private  individuals. 

Ch.  Koehler, 
Jocof  D.  Felthausen, 
Robert  Kenney, 
Edward  Kehoe, 
Albert  Michaelson, 

Democratic  Central  Committee  of  Cook  county,  Chicago, 
October  24,  1873. 

Nominations  were  then  made  as  follows  : 

For  Mayor,  H.  D.  Colvin  ;  for  City  Treasurer,  Daniel 
O'Hara  ;  for  City  Collector,  George  Von  Hollen  ;  for  City  As- 
sessor, Charles  Dennehy ;  for  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  S.  M. 
Moore  ;  for  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  M.  R.  M.  Wallace  ;  for 
County  Clerk,  Hermann  Lieb ;  for  Clerk  of  Criminal  Court, 
Austin  J.  Doyle  ;  for  County  Treasurer,  H.  B.  Miller  ;  for  County 
Superintendent  of  Schools,  George  D.  Plant  ;  for  County  Com- 
missioners, Christian  Busse,  John  Herting,  William  P.  Burdick, 
Thomas  Lonergan,  A.  B.  Johnson,  and  for  Police  Commissioner, 
C.  A.  Reno.     The  offices  of  City  Attorney  and   Police   Court 


I48  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Clerk  having  been  left  vacant  on  the  ticket  they  were  filled  Mon- 
day, October  28,  by  the  names  of  Egbert  Jamieson  for  Attorney, 
and  Martin  Scully  for  Police  Clerk.  The  leaders  and  most  active 
workers  in  the  People's  party  movement  were  A.  C.  Hesing, 
Daniel  O'Hara,  Barney  Caulfield  and  Miles  Kehoe,  the  latter 
being  Chairman  of  the  Campaign  Committee.  The  Law  and 
Order  managers  made  a  fatal  error  in  the  re-nomination  of  David 
A.  Gage  for  City  Treasurer,  and  his  defeat  became  a  leading 
issue.  His  operations  during  his  preceding  term  form  an  inter- 
esting chapter  of  municipal  history  at  this  stage.  Although  the 
charter  of  1863  provided,  under  penalty  of  imprisonment  in  the 
penitentiary,  that  the  Treasurer  should  keep  the  funds  in  a  place 
designated  by  the  city,  no  such  place  was  provided,  and  the 
Treasurer  prior  to  Mr.  Gage's  term  of  office,  fell  into  the  habit 
of  placing  the  money  in  various  banks,  and  retaining  the  in- 
terest as  a  part  of  their  perquisites.  The  city  coming  to  desire 
this  interest,  a  law  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  in  the  winter 
of  1869,  providing  that  the  city  might  by  ordinance  direct  the 
Treasurer  where  to  deposit  the  funds,  at  such  a  rate  of  interest, 
and  with  such  security  as  might  be  demanded.  Mr.  Gage  was 
the  first  Treasurer  elected  after  the  passage  of  this  law,  and  his 
first  official  act  was  to  ask  the  Council  to  act  according  to  the 
provisions  of  the  law,  and  at  the  same  time  he  filed  his  official 
bond  in  the  sum  of  $400,000,  the  amount  required  of  former 
Treasurers.  The  Council  determined  that  if  they  should  direct 
where  the  money  was  to  be  placed,  and  it  should  be  lost,  the  city 
must  lose  it,  and  they  therefore  determined  to  exact  a  heavy  in- 
demnifying bond  of  Mr.  Gage  and  let  him  place  the  money  where 
he  pleased.  The  amount  of  this  bond  was  fixed  at  $2,500,000, 
and  out  of  consideration  for  Mr.  Gage,  who  by  this  arrangement 
assumed  personal  risk  of  loss,  the  Council  in  its  wisdom  paid  him 
$10,000  per  annum  for  his  risk.  During  the  first  two  years  he 
served  Mr.  Gage  made  over  $100,000  by  this  arrangement,  and 
at  the  end  of  his  term  every  dollar  had  been  loaned,  aggregating 
about  $1,000,000.  During  the  panic  of  1873  some  of  the  banks 
wherein  Mr.  Gage  deposited  the  funds,  failed,  and  he  found  him- 
self with  a  large  deficiency  on  his  hands  to  make  good.  The 
first  authentic  information  that  Mr.  Gage  had  become  a  defaulter 
for  a  large  amount  was  not  received  by  the  authorities  until 
December,  1873,  when  Mayor  Colvin  had  taken  his  seat,  but  it 
had  been  charged  by  A.  C.  Hesing  in  the  Staats  Zeitung  that 
Gage  had  deposited  funds  with  banks  upon  agreement  that  they 
should  extend  him  personal  credit  to  the  amount  of  certain  pro- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  149 

portion  of  such  deposits.  Mr.  Hesing  charged  that  one  bank 
could  be  specified  which  held  a  note  of  Gage's  for  $40,000  to 
which  he  offered  $60,000  of  city  deposits  on  condition  of  an  ex- 
tension being  granted  him  on  the  note,  and  it  was  also  alleged 
that  Gage  would  pay  all  of  the  expenses  of  the  People's  party 
if  they  should  nominate  him  for  City  Treasurer,  and  Dan  O'Hara 
for  County  Treasurer.  In  a  sworn  affidavit  Mr.  Hesing  deposed 
that  he  had  been  approached  by  emissaries  who  offered  if  he 
would  use  his  influence  to  secure  Gage  the  nomination  of  the 
People's  party  for  City  Treasurer,  Gage  would  give  him  the  con- 
trol for  two  years  of  one-fifth  of  the  city  deposits. 

It  then  became  rumored  openly  in  public  resorts  that  there 
were  urgent  reasons  why  Gage  wanted  to  retain  the  office  of 
Treasurer,  and  the  orators  of  the  People's  party  made  as  much 
capital  as  possible  out  of  the  rumors,  and  demanded  a  count  of 
the  money  by  "Honest"  Dan  O'Hara,  as  their  candidate  was 
familiarly  known.  The  opposition  plainly  discerned  the  damage 
that  was  being  done  their  cause  by  these  charges  against  Gage, 
and  were  compelled  to  take  measures  to  put  a  quietus  upon  them. 
Mr.  Gage  on  October  20,  sent  a  communication  to  the  Mayor 
and  Common  Council  asking  that  through  a  proper  committee 
his  accounts  be  examined,  and  an  official  report  be  made  of  the 
same.  The  Finance  Committee  of  the  Council  was  instructed 
to  make  the  investigation  and  report.  The  committee  was  com- 
posed of  L.  L.  Bond,  Chairman,  Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  J.  W.  Mc- 
Ginnis,  J.  H.  McAvoy  and  George  Sherwood.  The  two  last 
named  were  not  present  at  the  investigation,  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  committee  appeared  to  have  had  perfect  confidence 
in  Mr.  Gage's  integrity.  At  his  request  the  following  report  was 
made: 

Chicago,  III.,  October  31,  1873. 

L.  L.  Bond,  Esq.,  Chairman  Finance  Committee  :  Sir — 
In  the  matter  of  the  communication  of  D.  A.  Gage,  Treasurer, 
referred  to  our  Committee,  you  are  authorized  to  report  that  we 
find  the  Treasurer's  accounts  correct,  and  the  cash  in  hand,  so 
that  the  city  funds  are  entirely  safe,  and  the  special  funds  in  the 
condition  required  by  law. 

Mahlon  D.  Ogden, 
J.  W.  McGinnis. 

This  report  was  used  by  the  Law  and  Order  speakers  as  a 
campaign  document  to  disprove  the  charges  made  against  Gage. 
the  law  and  order  party. 

The  Law  and  Order  party  was  composed  mainly  of  the  rem- 


15O  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

nant  of  the  supporters  of  the  "Fireproof"  ticket,  those  who  in- 
dorsed Mr.  Medill's  administration,  a  portion  of  the  Committee 
of  Twenty-five  and  the  Committee  of  Seventy.  On  the  evening 
of  July  1  7  a  part  of  the  latter  Committee  met  in  the  Builders'  Ex- 
change on  LaSalle  street  and  here  decided  the  fight  to  be  an  out- 
and-out  issue  between  Law  and  Order  and  ignorance  and  mis- 
rule. Plans  were  shaped  accordingly  and  a  fusion  of  all  oppos- 
ing elements  agreed  upon.  A  convention  was  held  Saturday, 
October  18,  1873,  m  tne  Grand  Pacific  Hotel,  and  the  following 
ticket  was  nominated  : 

For  Mayor,  L.  L.  Bond  ;  for  City  Treasurer,  David  A.  Gage  ; 
for  City  Collector.  A.  L.  Morrison  ;  for  City  Assessor,  W.  B.  H. 
Gray;  for  City  Attorney,  I.  N.  Stiles;  for  Police  Court  Clerk, 
C.  R.  Matson  ;  for  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  William  H. 
Porter*  ;  for  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  M.  R.  M.  Wallace  ;  for 
County  Clerk,  J.  W.  Brockway  ;  for  Clerk  of  the  Criminal  Court, 
W.  K.  Sullivan  ;  for  County  Treasurer,  Philip  Wadsworth  ;  for 
County  Superintendent  of  Schools,  A.  G.  Lane;  for  County 
Commissioners,  A.  J.  Galloway,  S.  Olin,  William  M.  Laughlin, 
W.  B.  Bateham,  S.  W-  Kingsley ;  for  Police  Commissioner, 
Reuben  Cleveland. 

This  ticket  was  formally  indorsed  by  the  Committee  of  Sev- 
enty in  a  mass  meeting  held  in  Kingsbury  hall  October  23.  The 
following  letter  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Bond  by  a  Committee  the 
day  before  the  mass  meeting  was  held  : 

Chicago,  October  22,   1873. 

Hon.  L.  L.  Bond  :  Dear  Sir — You  have  been  requested  by 
a  respectable  body  of  citizens  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  of- 
fice of  Mayor  at  the  approaching  municipal  election.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  Law  and  Order  will  have  a  convention  to-morrow 
for  the  nomination  of  candidates  to  be  supported  by  them  at  that 
election.  The  office  of  Mayor  is  the  most  important  one  to  be 
filled.  We  wish  the  best  man,  regardless  of  nationality,  creed, 
or  party,  for  the  place — one  who  is  in  accord  with  our  principles. 
We  demand  that  there  shall  be  honesty  and  strict  economy  in 
the  management  of  our  finances  to  the  end  that  all  expenditures 
be  limited  to  the  actual  needs  of  the  people,  and  that  taxation 
be  lightened  as  much  as  possible. 

We  demand  that  the  laws  shall  be  enforced  for  the  protec- 
tion of  life  and  property.  We  claim  that  the  protection  of  every 
member  of  society,  regardless  of  age,  sex  or  condition,  in  person, 

*Octobtrr  29  Joseph  P.  Clarkson  was  nominated  forjudge  of  the   Superior  Court,   vice 
William  H.  Porter,  who  died  subsequent  to  his  nomination. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I  5  I 

property  and  freedom,  is  the  supreme  object  and  duty  of  Gov- 
ernment. 

We  claim  that  every  person  has  a  right,  so  far  as  human  law- 
is  concerned,  to  his  own  opinions,  and  to  act  upon  them  as  he 
shall  deem  best,  and  to  engage  in  any  lawful  traffic,  and  to  all 
the  guaranties  which  the  law  affords  for  its  conduct  and  man- 
agement. 

But  upon  the  question  of  what  kinds  and  modes  of  traffic 
are  injurious  to  the  citizen,  as  promoters  of  disorder,  ignorance, 
pauperism  and  crime,  and  consequent  unnecessary  taxation,  the 
aggregate  will  of  the  people  is  supreme,  and  must  be  obeyed  ; 
and  to  be  specific  on  this  point,  we  insist  that  the  saloons  shall 
be  closed  on  Sundays  ;  that  the  licenses  of  those  who  violate  the 
law  shall  be  revoked  ;  that  the  keepers  of  these  establishments 
be  required  to  give  bonds,  as  required  by  law,  with  good  secur- 
ity, for  the  protection  and  indemnity  of  those  who  suffer  from 
violation  of  the  law,  and  that  the  law  be  enforced  by  a  faithful 
and  efficient  police,  to  the  end  that  crime  may  be  diminished,  and 
public  order  maintained. 

We  respectfully  ask  if  the  principles  we  have  announced 
meet  with  your  approval.  If  they  do  we  pledge  to  you  such  a 
support  as,  we  believe,  will  secure  your  nomination  and  trium- 
phant election,  with  a  result  which  will  give  to  our  city  a  charac- 
ter and  attitude  she  is  entitled  to  possess  and  to  occupy  before 
the  world.      By  order  of  Committee. 

S.   B.   Gookins. 

To  this  Mr.  Bond  made  the  following  reply,  which  was  read 
in  the  Kingsbury  hall  meeting,  and  received  with  great  enthu- 
siasm : 

Mayor's  Office, 
Chicago,  October  22,  1873. 

The  Hon.  S.  B.  Gookins  :  Dear  Sir — Your  letter  of  to-day 
is  at  hand,  and  in  reply  I  have  to  say  that  if  the  people  assign 
to  me  the  duties  appertaining  to  the  office  of  Mayor  I  shall  earn- 
estly endeavor  to  have  all  the  financial  interests  of  the  city 
honestly  and  economically  administered,  and  to  that  end  will  do 
all  the  Mayor  can  do.  With  regard  to  the  other  points,  I  have 
to  say  that  no  executive  officer  can  stand  in  any  other  position 
than  that  contained  in  the  oath  of  office,  "That  he  will  faithfully 
and  impartially  execute  all  of  the  laws  to  the  extent  of  his  abil- 
ity," and  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  protect  all  citizens  in  their 
personal  and  property  rights,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  all  lawful 
business  enterprises,  regardless  of  the  condition  of  such  persons. 


152  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

As  this  is  the  effect  of  the  oath,  and  the  position  of  an  ex- 
ecutive officer,  it  is  apparent  that  I  cannot  make  an  exception  of 
the  Sunday  law,  and  this  necessarily  includes  the  exercise  of  all 
lawful  means  for  its  enforcement.  It  is  my  purpose  to  devote 
my  whole  energies,  if  elected,  to  secure  such  a  government  as 
will  promote  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the  whole  people,  and  to 
maintain  the  good  name  and  credit  of  our  city.  No  man  can  do 
more  than  this,  and  no  honorable  man  can  do  less. 

Lester  L.  Bond. 

Mr.  Bond  was  a  member  of  the  Council,  Chairman  of  the 
Finance  Committee,  and  at  this  time  Acting  Mayor  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Mayor  Medill,  who  had  gone  to  Europe,  and  the  City 
Council  tendered  him  a  vote  of  thanks  for  his  wise  counsel  and 
able  and  careful  management  of  city  affairs.  The  reform  element 
thus  demanded  Sunday  and  midnight  closing  of  the  saloons, 
which  a  large  foreign-born  population  deemed  an  infringement 
upon  their  rights.  The  "personal  liberty"  cry  was  raised,  and 
Mr.  Colvin,  to  strengthen  himself,  announced  that  he  would  not 
run  as  a  straight-out  Democrat,  but  as  a  liberal  candidate.  The 
election  was  held  Tuesday,  November  4,  1873,  and  every  candi- 
date on  the  People's  party  ticket  was  elected  by  majorities  rang- 
ing from  10,000  to  13,000.  In  the  city  the  majority  of  the  alder- 
manic  candidates  who  had  identified  themselves  with  the  Liberal 
movement  were  elected.      The  totals  were  as  follows  : 

Mayor— H.  D.  Colvin,  28,791  ;  L.  L.  Bond,  18,540. 

City  Treasurer — Daniel  O'Hara,  28,761;  D.  A.  Gage,  18,629. 

City  Attorney — Egbert  Jamieson,  28,586;  Thos.  J.  Turner, 
18,636. 

City  Collector — George  Von  Hollen,  28,590  ;  A.  L.  Morri- 
son, 18,560. 

City  Assessor — Charles  Dennehy,  28,570;  W.  B.  H.  Gray, 
18,705. 

Clerk  of  Police  Court— Martin  Scully,  27,544;  C.  R.  Mat- 
son,   19,240. 

Police  Commissioner — C.  A.  Reno,  27,148;  R.  Cleveland, 
18,729. 

ALDERMEN. 

First  Ward — Foley,  501  ;   Lyons,  478. 
Second  Ward — Dixon,  666  ;  Reid,  285. 
Third  Ward — Fitzgerald,  1,700 ;  McGinnis,  984 ;  Thomas, 
348. 

Fourth  Ward— Spalding,  1,735  '>  McArthur,  688. 
Fifth  Ward — Stone,  1,805  '>  James,  938. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  53 

Sixth  Ward — Reidy,  2,212  ;  Tracy,  984  ;  Conley,  149. 

Seventh  Ward — Cullerton,  2,204  >  Millard,  299. 

Eighth  Ward— Hildreth,  1,687;  Fleming,  848 ;  McDonald, 

695- 

Ninth  Ward — Bailey,  1,547;  Powell,  1,422;  Clark,  510; 
Ryan,  338. 

Tenth  Ward — Woodman,  1,384  ;  Greenebaum,  672  ;  Eaton, 
206. 

Eleventh  Ward — White,  1,136  ;  Walsh,  809  ;  Ferguson,  89. 

Twelfth  Ward — Heath,  1,543  ;  Courtney,  585. 

Thirteenth  Ward — Campbell,  1,233;  Sherwood,  853;  White, 
292. 

Fourteenth  Ward — Cleveland,  1,127;  Turtle,  877. 

Fifteenth  Ward — McGrath,  2,874  i  Casselman,  454  ;  Brown, 

235- 

Sixteenth  Ward — Stout,  2,162  ;   Hawkinson,  460. 

Seventeenth  Ward — Lengacher,  2,454;  Pfolstrom,  211. 

Eighteenth  Ward — Murphy,  1,007;  Handly,  606;  Bean, 
455  ;  Barrett,  96. 

Nineteenth  Ward — Lynch,  540;  Greeley,  198. 

Twentieth  Ward — Jonas,    837;   Harvey,  494;   Kehoe,   283. 

COUNTY    TICKET. 

Judge  of  Superior  Court — S.  M.  Moore,  32,019  ;  Joseph  P. 
Clarkson,  21,167. 

Judge  of  County  Court— M.  R.  M.  Wallace  (on  both 
tickets),  53,417. 

Clerk  of  County  Court — Hermann  Lieb,  31,156  ;  James  W. 
Brockway,  22,046. 

Clerk  of  Criminal  Court — Austin  Doyle,  33,031  ;  W.  K. 
Sullivan,   20,163. 

County  Treasurer — H.  B.  Miller,  31,941  ;  Philip  Wads- 
worth,  21,106. 

Superintendent  of  Schools — George  D.  Plant,  31,248  ;  A. 
G.  Lane,  21,839. 

County  Commissioners — Christian  Busse,  30,837;  A.  B. 
Johnson,  31,846;  Thomas  Lonergan,  31,976;  William  B.  Bur- 
dick,  31,629;  John  Herting,  31,784  ;  E.  A.  Lynn,  20,999;  S.  W. 
Kingsley,  21,782;  W.  B.  Bateham,  21,340;  William  M.  Laugh- 
lin,  21,557;  A.  J.  Galloway,  21,626. 

Member  of  State  Board  of  Equalization — S.  S.  Gardner, 
10,673;  R.  P.  Derrickson,  9,173. 

Thomas  Cannon  and  Max  Eberhardt  were  elected  "  County 
Justices,"  but  the  Governor  refused  to  commission  them  on  the 


154  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

ground  that  no  such  office  existed.  With  this  election  the  Com- 
mittee of  Seventy  as  an  active  political  factor  came  to  an  end.  The 
Tribune  making  reference  to  its  demise,  rather  ungratefully  com- 
mented as  follows  :  "The  Committee  of  Seventy  soon  absorbed 
the  smaller  organizations.  It  put  a  ticket  in  the  field  last  year, 
but  its  first  venture  in  politics  was  not  encouraging.  During  the 
winter  it  was  dormant,  but  some  three  months  since  it  smelt  the 
battle  afar  off,  and  came  out  of  its  winter  quarters.  It  proceeded 
to  organize  the  recent  campaign,  in  which  it  met  with  a  crushing 
reverse.  Hereafter  it  will  be  remembered  in  the  history  of  local 
politics  for  good  intentions,  for  miserable  inefficiency  as  a  politi- 
cal organization,  and  for  its  failure  to  execute  the  designs  for 
which  it  was  organized." 

Remnants  of  the  committee  and  other  advocates  of  the 
"Sunday  closing"  ordinance  subsequently  formed  an  organiza- 
tion, and  operating  with  them  was  a  band  of  "praying  women," 
similar  to  those  that  about  this  time  created  a  furore  in  Ohio, 
Massachusetts  and  the  East.  A  number  of  meetings  were  held 
which  were  addressed  by  the  pastors  of  the  city  churches,  and  at 
a  meeting  held  Friday,  March  13,  in  the  First  Methodist  church 
block,  it  was  resolved  by  some  six  hundred  ladies  present  to  ap- 
peal to  the  Common  Council  to  enforce  the  Sunday  closing  ordi- 
nance. A  committee  was  appointed  and  waited  on  the  Council, 
but  a  majority  of  that  body  having  been  elected  on  the  other  side 
of  the  issue,  the  appeal  of  the  ladies  was  unavailing,  and  the 
•  Council  passed  an  ordinance  granting  the  right  to  sell,  and  gov- 
erning the  traffic  in  liquor  on  Sundays  as  well  as  other  days, 
with  such  restrictions  as  were  deemed  proper,  and  repealing  con- 
flicting ordinances.  The  ladies  appealed  to  Mayor  Colvin  to 
veto  this  ordinance,  but  he  explained  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  him  to  do  so  and  at  the  same  time  represent  the  views  and 
wishes  of  the  constituency  to  which  he  was  pledged  prior  to  the 
election. 

MAYOR    COLVIN'S    ADMINISTRATION. 

Mayor  Colvin,  in  his  inaugural  address,  December  1,  1873, 
referred  to  the  issues  decided  in  the  late  election,  and  pledged 
his  administration  to  economy  and  reform.  The  message  pro- 
ceeded : 

"  During  the  last  municipal  administration  the  attention  of 
our  community  has,  to  a  great  extent,  been  diverted  from  all 
questions  referring  to  an  economical  management  of  the  city 
finances,  or  even  to  the  protection  of  life  and  property,  by 
efforts  as  fruitless  as  they  were  frantic,  to  enforce  certain  ordi- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I  55 

nances  in  regard  to  the  observation  of  the  first  day  of  the  week. 
It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  those  ordinances,  how  much  soever 
they  may  have  been  in  consonance  with  the  public  opinion  of  a 
comparatively  small  and  homogenous  population  at  the  time  of 
their  enactment,  have  ceased  to  be  so  since  Chicago  has,  by  the 
harmonious  co-operation  of  citizens  belonging  to  the  different 
nationalities,  grown  from  a  village  to  the  rank  of  one  of t  the 
greatest  cities  of  the  world.  For  a  series  of  years  it  has  been 
the  practice  of  our  municipal  administration  to  treat  those  ordi- 
nances as  'obsolete,'  and  to  refrain  from  enforcing  them.  It  is 
not  intended  to  denounce  that  practice,  but  merely  to  state  that 
within  the  past  year  it  has  become  distasteful  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  community.  In  our  late  election  the  issue  has  been  fairly 
and  squarely  made  whether  the  existing  ordinances  shall  be  re- 
tained and  enforced,  or,  upon  the  other  hand,  either  repealed  or 
so  modified  as  to  be  in  consonance  with  the  present  state  of  pub- 
lic opinion  in  our  community.  A  majority  of  our  people,  so 
overwhelming  that  it  would  be  preposterous  to  designate  their  de- 
cision as  a  '  snap '  judgment,  or  to  cavil  at  its  meaning,  has  decided 
the  question  in  favor  of  the  latter  alternative.  It  behooves  all  good 
citizens  who  believe  the  principles  of  our  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment to  accept  that  popular  decision,  to  which,  following  the 
advice  of  my  predecessor  in  office,  they  have  appealed.  There 
is  no  reason  to  fear  that  those  who  conscientiously  believe  the 
existing  ordinance  upon  the  subject  to  be  dictated  by  a  spirit  of 
religious  intolerance  incompatible  with  the  spirit  of  our  age,  will, 
on  their  own  part,  defy  the  spirit  of  mutual  toleration.  If  the 
Common  Council,  in  its  wisdom,  and  having  undoubtedly  full 
power  upon  the  subject,  should  determine  either  to  repeal  or 
modify  the  Sunday  prohibitions  and  Sunday  clauses  in  the 
license  law,  or  to  fully  secure  the  religious  exercises  of  a  portion 
of  our  citizens  from  all  disturbance,  without  interfering  with  the 
harmless  enjoyments  of  other  citizens,  it  will  do  more  than  its 
duty  toward  the  majority  of  the  people  of  this  city. 

"  Our  police  system  should  be  conducted  upon  the  principle 
of  the  prevention  rather  than  the  punishment  of  crime.  Nor 
should  the  city  seek  to  obtain  revenue  by  means  of  any  of  the 
prevalent  forms  of  vice.  When  it  does  it  becomes  particeps 
criminis  in  the  iniquity  it  professes  to  punish  or  suppress.  My 
nature  revolts  against  this  barbarous  and  brutal  practice,  not 
pursued  for  the  purpose  of  extirpating  vice,  but  with  the  object 
of  adding  a  few  paltry  dollars  to  the  public  revenue.  It  shall 
never  receive  my  sanction.       All  that  can   usefully   be  accom- 


I56  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

plished  in  this  direction  is  the  mitigation  of  the  more  glaring  and 
demoralizing  effects  of  that  which  in  all  ages  and  among  all  races 
has  existed  as  an  evil  that  may  be  mitigated,  or  perhaps,  regu- 
lated, but  which  has  never  yet  been  exterminated.  Police  officers 
should  be  made  to  understand  and  feel  that  laws  are  enacted  as 
much  to  protect  the  unfortunate  as  to  punish  the  wicked.  In  no 
case  should  a  person  be  inhumanly  treated  simply  because  he  has 
been  arrested  for  some  petty  offence  or  misdemeanor.  I  am  de- 
cidedly opposed  to  the  practice  of  police  officers  receiving 
money,  in  the  shape  of  rewards  for  services  rendered,  from  any 
corporation  or  individual.  Let  them  look  to  the  city  alone  for 
remuneration.  Such  practice  will,  sooner  or  later,  end  in  the 
force  becoming  merely  the  instruments  of  great  corporations  or 
wealthy  individuals.  *  *  *  In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  I 
would  add  that,  in  view  of  the  prostrated  condition  of  our  city 
treasury  our  fellow  citizens  loudly  call  upon  you  for  economical 
legislation.  At  the  same  time  they  look  to  me  for  a  prompt  in- 
terposition of  my  veto  to  any  measure  of  wasteful,  excessive,  or 
corrupt  expenditure.  I  hope  and  trust  that  neither  will  fail  in 
the  duties  of  our  respective  provinces.  In  the  event  that  we  do 
not  we  shall  acquit  ourselves  to  our  own  and  the  public  satisfac- 
tion, and  receive  the  reward  due  to  good  and  faithful  servants." 
Among  the  first  official  acts  of  Mayor  Colvin  was  the  ap- 
pointment of  Jacob  Rehm  as  Superintendent  of  Police  and  E. 
F.  C.  Klokke  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Police  and  Fire  Com- 
missioners. They  were  confirmed  by  the  Council  December  22, 
1873.  These  appointments  were  followed  by  that  of  Michael  C. 
Hickey  for  Captain  of  Police,  vice  Louis  J.  Lull.  Subsequently 
Jake  Rehm  became  implicated  in  the  whisky  fraud  conspiracy 
against  the  government  and  was  forced  to  resign,  when  M.  C. 
Hickey  was  made  Superintendent  of  Police,  and  Joseph  Dixon 
Deputy  Superintendent.  Among  other  important  appointments 
made  by  Mayor  Colvin  were  S.  S.  Hayes  as  Comptroller,  Mat- 
thias Benner  as  Fire  Marshal,  Michael  B.  Bailey  as  Superinten- 
dent of  Buildings,  A.  M.  Billings  and  W.  I.  Onahan  as  Directors 
of  the  Public  Library,  Noel  B.  Boyden  as  Prosecuting  Attorney, 
John  S.  Drake  and  S.  M.  Moore  a*s  Fire  Commissioners,  George 
L.  Dunlap  as  City  Marshal,  George  Everhart  as  Assistant  City 
Weigher,  W.  T.  English  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education, 
H.  B.  Hurd  Commissioner  to  revise  ordinances,  Dr.  Brockholst 
McVickar  member  of  the  Board  of  Health,  Avery  Moore  Ap- 
praiser of  School  Lands,  and  R.  E.  Goodell  as  City  Marshal,  to 
succeed  George  L.  Dunlap,  resigned. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  157 

December  15,  1873,  Mr.  John  A.  Rice,  one  of  David  A. 
Gage's  bondsmen,  waited  on  Mayor  Colvin  and  informed  him 
that  the  City  Treasurer  was  short  in  his  accounts  to  the  extent 
of  $350,000,  and  in  order  to  make  good  this  deficiency,  stood 
ready  to  turn  over  his  entire  property.  Although  some  such 
denouement  had  been  expected,  when  it  transpired  it  created  a 
great  sensation.  Legal  measures  were  at  once  taken  to  recover 
as  much  as  possible  of  the  money  involved  in  Treasurer  Gage's 
defalcation.  The  City  Attorney  filed  a  praecipe  in  a  plea  for 
debt  against  Gage  and  his  bondsmen,  William  F.  Tucker,  Al- 
bert Crosby,  John  B.  Sherman,  James  H.  McVicker,  Nathaniel 
P.  Wilder,  John  A.  Rice  and  George  W.  Gage,  placing  damages 
at  $1,000,000.  December  26,  City  Treasurer  O'Hara,  following 
the  instructions  of  the  city  law  department,  made  a  formal  demand 
upon  Ex-Treasurer  Gage  for  a  deficit  of  money  belonging  to  the 
city,  amounting  to  $507,703.58.  After  consultations  between 
Gage's  bondsmen,  on  December  30  a  formal  conveyance  by  trust 
deed  was  made  by  Gage  of  all  his  property  to  Mr.  George  Taylor. 
Proceedings  were  then  instituted  against  Gage  for  perjury,  the 
charge  being  that  in  his  periodical  statements  made  under  oath 
regarding  the  disposition  of  funds  and  the  amounts  in  his  hands, 
he  had  repeatedly  and  knowingly  committed  perjury.  The  mat- 
ter of  Gage's  defalcation  having  been  brought  before  the  Grand 
Jury  City  Treasurer  O'Hara  in  accordance  with  the  advice  of 
State's  Attorney  Charles  Reed,  made  another  personal  and  form- 
al demand  upon  Gage  for  the  balance  of  the  city  funds  in  his 
hands,  but  Mr.  Gage  made  no  response.  January  7  the  Grand 
Jury  returned  indictments  against  Gage  for  failing  to  pay  over  the 
moneys  intrusted  to  his  keeping,  and  also  for  perjury.  The  in- 
dictment for  perjury  was  quashed,  but  the  February  Grand  Jury 
returned  a  new  indictment,  covering  the  same  charge.  From  a 
careful  examination  of  the  records  bearing  on  the  Gage  defalca- 
tion it  appears  that  Aid.  Sherwood,  a  member  of  the  Finance 
Committee  of  the  Council,  was  the  first  to  discover  that  anything 
was  wrong,  but  it  was  openly  charged  after  the  defalcation  be- 
came publicly  known  that  some  of  Gage's  bondsmen  claimed  that 
they  were  not  reprehensibly  careless  or  responsible,  for  the  reason 
that  shortly  after  the  "Fireproof"  administration  assumed  charge 
of  city  affairs  Gage  was  discovered  to  be  short  some  $200,000. 
Some  days  before  the  election  of  the  People's  party  candidates 
Aid.  Sherwood  questioned  Gage  about  the  city's  funds  and 
secured  a  list  of  banks  wherein  they  were  alleged  to  be  deposited. 
He  asked  to  see  the  bank  books  to  compare  them  with  the  list  of 


I58  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

balances,  and  was  told  that  Mr.  Gage  had  taken  them  away,  and 
that  they  had  not  been  written  up  for  several  months.  The  stubs 
of  check  books  showed  that  current  accounts  were  running  with 
but  two  banks,  the  Second  National  and  Mechanics',  while  the 
other  accounts  had  apparently  not  been  disturbed  since  1871. 
Shortly  before  the  fire,  however,  the  water  fund  was  known  to 
be  over  $1,000,000,  whereas  from  the  records  the  amount  in  the 
hands  of  the  Treasurer  October  17,  1871,  was  seen  to  be  only 
$645,727.48.  Mr.  Sherwood  was  called  to  Minnesota  by  the 
death  of  his  sister,  before  he  could  pursue  his  investigations 
further.  Upon  his  return  he  received  a  request  from  Mr.  Gage 
to  meet  the  latter  at  the  Grand  Pacific  hotel,  and  did  so.  At 
this  interview  Gage  confessed  that  he  was  short  $300,000,  and 
Mr.  Sherwood  said  subsequently  he  understood  from  Gage  that 
he  had  confessed  to  Mr.  Bond  and  Comptroller  Burley  that  he 
was  short  $250,000.  Gage  appealed  to  Mr.  Sherwood's  generos- 
ity to  give  him  ten  days  in  which  to  straighten  matters  up.  Mr. 
Sherwood  consented,  insisting  that  the  books  should  be  fully 
written  up,  and  ended  the  interview,  feeling  satisfied  Gage  would 
make  up  the  deficiency  before  he  was  compelled  to  make  a  set- 
tlement with  his  successor.  The  Finance  Committee  made  up 
a  report  to  the  Council  which  Mr.  Sherwood  refused  to  sign  on 
account  of  his  knowledge  of  the  facts  above  given.  The  deficit 
at  the  end  of  Gage's  term  was  $507,703.58,  the  amount  stated  in 
the  demand  of  his  successor,  Treasurer  O'Hara,  of  which  $147,- 
500  remained  in  the  banks,  leaving  the  actual  claim  against  Gage 
$360,203.58.  The  re-indictment  of  Gage  for  perjury  was  quashed 
by  Judge  Moore,  March  26,  1874,  on  the  ground  that  in  his  affi- 
davits Gage  omitted  the  word  "unlawfully"  before  the  word 
'use,"  and  that  the  affidavit  was  therefore  merely  a  voluntary  of- 
fering and  not  a  legal  document  within  the  meaning  of  the  law. 
On  the  indictment  for  failing  to  turn  over  the  funds,  Gage  ob- 
tained a  change  of  venue  to  Lake  county  and  eventually  defeated 
the  city  on  this  criminal  charge  also.  In  March,  1878,  a  judg- 
ment was  rendered  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  county  against 
David  A.  Gage  and  his  bondsmen,  William  F.  Tucker,  Albert 
Crosby,  John  B.  Sherman,  James  H.  McVicker  and  Nathaniel 
P.  Wilder,  for  the  sum  of  $507,703.58.  The  case  was  taken  to 
the  Appellate  Court  by  writ  of  error,  by  the  defendants,  and  that 
Court  rendered  judgment  January  7,  1879,  reversing  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Circuit  Court.  The  city  appealed  from  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Appellate  Court  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  that 
Court  at  its  September  term,  1879,  reversed  the  judgment  of  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  59 

Appellate  Court  and  directed  the  latter  Court  to  enter  judgment 
confirming"  the  judgment  of  the  Circuit  Court,  which  was  done. 

November  18,  1880,  an  execution  was  issued  out  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  on  the  judgment,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Sheriff. 

In  December,  1873,  David  A.  Gage  and  his  wife  had  executed 
to  George  Taylor  a  deed  of  trust  of  several  pieces  and  parcels  of 
land  to  secure  the  city  on  account  of  Gage's  indebtedness,  and 
containing  power  of  sale,  etc.,  of  this  land.  A  certain  portion  de- 
scribed as  being  in  township  39,  sec.  1,  was  not  owned  by  Gage, 
but  he  did  own  thirty  acres  in  township  38,  sec.  1,  which  he 
claimed  was  the  land  he  intended  to  convey,  but  that  a  mistake 
was  made  in  the  description.  He  subsequently  conveyed  the 
tract  in  township  38,  sec.  1,  to  another  party,  and  the  Trustee 
thereupon  filed  a  bill  to  have  the  latter  conveyance  set  aside,  and 
the  description  in  the  trust  deed  corrected.  While  T.  Lyle 
Dickey  was  Corporation  Counsel,  he  filed  a  bill  in  the  Superior 
Court  of  Cook  county  for  a  decree,  directing  the  Trustee  to  sell 
a  tract  of  254  acres,  known  as  the  "Gage  farm."  Another  party, 
a  non-resident  of  the  state,  claiming  interest  as  a  creditor  of 
Gage,  filed  a  cross-bill,  and  upon  his  petition  the  cause  was  re- 
moved to  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  but  on  motion  of  the 
Corporation  Counsel,  the  United  States  Court  remanded  the 
cause  to  the  Superior  Court,  holding  that  it  was  not  removable 
therefrom  under  the  act  of  Congress.  From  this  order  the  com- 
plainant in  the  cross-bill  took  an  appeal  to  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court,  which  Court  affirmed  the  order  of  the  Court  below 
remanding  the  case  to  the  Superior  Court  of  Cook  county.  Gage 
also  assigned  in  1873  to  George  Taylor,  as  Trustee,  for  the  use 
of  the  city  certain  choses  in  action,  such  as  bonds,  life  insurance 
policies,  etc.  Up  to  February  19,  1880,  Trustee  Taylor  had 
realized  for  the  city  from  real  estate  sales  and  other  sources  $67,- 
644.57,  which  amount  was  credited  on  the  judgment  against  the 
bondsmen.  January  10,  1881,  Corporation  Counsel  Adams  rec- 
ommended to  the  Council  that  authority  be  conferred  upon  the 
Mayor  and  Comptroller  to  make  a  reasonable  compromise  with 
the  bondsmen  for  the  balance  due  the  city.  With  the  consent  of 
the  Council,  Mayor  Harrison  and  Comptroller  Gurney  finally 
effected  a  compromise  of  the  matter.  The  bondsmen  who  had 
gone  through  bankruptcy  escaped  payment.  John  B.  Sherman 
paid  the  full  amount  of  his  indebtedness  under  the  bond— $50,- 
000.  W.  F.  Tucker  paid  $5,000.  Gage  perfected  the  title  to 
the  land  in  dispute.     The  city  so  far  has  realized  about  $125,000 


l6o  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

in  cash  on  the  Gage  defalcation,  not  including  the  rents  from  the 
Gage  farm  and  other  property,  and  when  the  remaining  land  is 
sold  the  total  indebtedness  of  Gage  will  have  been  nearly  wiped 
out,  but  the  city  will  scarcely  realize  any  interest,  even  if  the 
principal  is  all  made  good. 

In  a  message  to  the  Council  December  7,  1 874,  Mayor  Colvin 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  on   the  last  day  of  December, 

1873,  the  city  had  exhausted  its  power  to  add  to  its  funded  debt, 
having  reached  the  limit  fixed  by  the  constitution  of  the  state. 
No  new  bonds  could  be  issued  except  in  renewal  of  existing  in- 
debtedness. It  was  stated  that  the  bonded  debt,  December 
1,  1874,  was  $13,379,000;  bonds  due  July  1  (part  of  debt), 
$100,000;  interest  on  bonds  due  January  1,  1875,  $463,250  ;  cer- 
tificates of  indebtedness  due  on  ten  days'  notice,  $300,000  ;  cer- 
tificates due  from  December,  1874,  to  June,  1875,  $1,441,169.73, 
or  an  indebtedness  all  told  of  $3,193,438.89.  The  available  as- 
sets consisted  of  cash  in  the  treasury  and  in  New  York  to  the 
amount  of  $1,487,229.09  ;  water  bonds  unsold,  $80,000;  tax  cer- 
tificates for  taxes  of  1871  and  1872,  $250,566.66  ;  taxes  of  1871- 
2-3    appealed  and  uncollected,    $1,451,105.29;  tax  warrant   for 

1874,  $5,410,173.96.  The  amount  then  due  from  D.  A.  Gage 
and  his  sureties,  partly  secured  by  trust  deed,  was  $482,703.58 
and  interest.  Proceedings  have  been  instituted  to  close  the  trust 
and  collect  the  deficiency  from  the  sureties.  It  will  be  seen  that 
notwithstanding  great  reverses  the  city's  finances  showed  evi- 
dences of  steady  recuperation,  and  were  essentially  sound  at  this 
date. 

In  the  Council  meeting,  December  21,  1874,  the  Mayor  pre- 
sented a  message  notifying  the  members  of  the  death  of  John  B. 
Rice,  Congressman  for  two  terms  from  the  First  Chicago  district, 
once  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  esteemed 
citizens,  and  suggesting  that  the  Council  attend  the  funeral  in  a 
body.  The  Council  ordered  the  public  offices  closed  out  of  re- 
spect to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  and  on  motion  of  Aid. 
Richardson,  it  was  decided  that  the  Council  should  attend  the 
funeral  in  a  body. 

January  4,  1875,  tne  Council,  the  Mayor  concurring,  fixed 
upon  Tuesday,  April  23,  1875,  as  the  day  of  election  at  which 
the  question  of  the  incorporation  of  the  city  under  the  general 
law  should  be  submitted  to  the  voters.  There  were  two  proposed 
charters  at  issue,  one  prepared  by  Corporation  Counsel  Egbert 
Jamieson,  and  known  as  the  "Hesing"  Charter,  because  it  was 
favored  by  A.  C.  Hesing  and  the  Staats  Zeitung,  and  the  charter 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  l6l 

which  was  subsequently  adopted  and  under  which  the  city  is  now 
operating.  The  Citizen's  Committee  favored  the  latter  charter, 
and  the  city  administration  opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  its  pro- 
visions were  insufficient  for  the  proper  operation  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment. Mayor  Colvin,  Judge  T.  Lyle  Dickey  and  Mr.  Jamie- 
son,  argued  against  the  charter  before  the  committee,  and  at  the 
request  of  the  committee  Mr.  Jamieson  drew  up  the  "Hesing" 
charter,  which  the  committee  accepted,  and  the  state  Legislature 
adopted.  The  aldermen  were  against  minority  representation 
in  the  Council,  and  finding  that  the  first  (or  the  present)  charter 
was  a  "hold-over"  charter,  they  went  out  in  their  wards  and  suc- 
ceeded by  reason  of  a  light  vote  in  carrying  the  election  to  suit 
themselves.  The  vote  as  canvassed  May  3,  was  for  organization 
of  the  city  under  the  general  law,  11,714;  against,  10,281  ;  for  min- 
ority representation  in  the  Council  1,550  ;  against,  5,544.  Under 
the  provisions  of  the  new  law  the  Mayoralty  elections  were 
changed  from  fall  to  spring,  and  the  common  council  divided  the 
city  into  eighteen  wards.  The  old  and  cumbersome  machinery  of 
many  governing  boards  was  done  away  with  and  the  administra- 
tion of  the  law  and  ordinances  was  simplified  and  made  more 
direct  in  the  hands  of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen.  Great  dissat- 
isfaction with  the  present  charter  has,  however,  been  expressed 
by  many  citizens,  and  at  this  date  the  proposition  to  return  to 
the  election  of  police  magistrates  and  clerks,  and  the  operation 
of  the  police  and  fire  departments  by  Boards  of  Commissioners,  is 
frequently  discussed. 

Mayor  Colvin  announced  to  the  Council  January  n,  1875, 
that  he  had  received  a  dispatch  from  Lieutenant  Commander  VV. 
C.  Whiting,  U.  S.  N.,  announcing  that  his  Majesty  King  Kalakua, 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  party,  would  arrive  in  the  city 
the  ensuing  day,  and  suggesting  that  the  City  Council  should 
meet  and  welcome  the  guests  of  the  city  and  conduct  them  to  the 
Grand  Pacific  hotel,  which  the  Council  decided  to  do.  Mayor 
Colvin  and  King  Kalakua  became  great  friends,  and  the  episodes 
connected  with  the  stay  of  the  roval  party  in  Chicago,  furnished 
an  unending  fund  of  amusement  to  the  newspapers,  which  ex- 
panded on  the  benefits  Chicago  was  to  derive  from  connection 
with  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  the  alliterative  toast  "Kolvin  and 
Kalakua"  was  frequently  heard  in  saloons,  and  in  the  theatres 
and  other  places  of  public  resort.  In  June,  1875,  when  it  was 
feared  the  government  would  tear  down  the  partially  built  Cus- 
tom house,  on  account  of  the  insecurity  of  its  foundations,  Mayor 
Colvin,  in  obedience  to  a  resolution  of  the  Council,  appointed  a 


162  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

commission  of  expert  architects,  composed  of  J.  M.  Van  Osdel, 
Chairman,  W.  W.  Boyington,  A.  Bauer,  Edward  Burling,  J.  J. 
Egan  and  O.  L.  Wheelock,  to  examine  the  foundations  of  the 
Custom  house,  consult  with  the  government  engineers,  and  re- 
port to  the  City  Council.  The  architects  subsequently  reported 
that  in  their  estimation  the  foundations  were  sufficiently  secure 
to  support  the  contemplated  structure.  They  subsequently  put 
in  a  claim  for  pay  for  their  services,  and  as  this  contingency  had 
not  been  provided  for,  a  series  of  troublesome  negotiations  en- 
sued before  the  matter  was  adjusted.  It  dragged  through  the 
Council  for  five  years  ;  that  body  at  one  time  adopting  a  resolu- 
tion requesting  the  government  to  reimburse  the  architects  for 
their  services,  inasmuch,  as  was  alleged,  Uncle  Sam  had  profited 
by  them.  In  July,  1880,  the  city  Finance  Committee  recom- 
mended the  payment  of  a  portion  of  the  claim,  on  the  basis  of 
$500  each  to  Van  Osdel  and  Bauer,  and  $400  each  to  Boyington, 
Egan,  Burling  and  Wheelock.  A  test  suit  had  been  brought  by 
Egan  against  the  city,  and  the  city  demurred  to  the  declaration 
on  the  ground  that  the  Council  had  no  power  to  employ  persons 
to  perform  services  of  this  character.  Justice  Wilson,  in  the 
Appellate  Court,  decided  that  it  was  within  the  discretion  of  the 
Council  to  authorize  their  employment.  Accompanying  the  re- 
port of  the  Finance  Committee  was  an  opinion  of  City  Attorney 
Grinnell,  recommending  that  the  cases  be  compromised,  and  they 
were  finally  settled  on  the  basis  recommended. 

June  25,  1875,  tne  Committee  on  Police,  to  whom  had  been 
referred  a  resolution  relative  to  the  abolishment  of  the  Board  of 
Police  and  Fire  Commissioners,  reported  an  ordinance  creating 
the  present  police  and  fire  departments,  and  the  offices  of  City 
Marshal,  Superintendent  of  Police  and  Fire  Marshal,  and  on 
June  28,  after  a  lively  contest  in  the  Council,  the  ordinance  was 
passed  by  a  vote  of  28  in  favor  of  it  to  8  against.  In  March, 
1876,  the  ordinance  creating  the  fire  department  was  amended 
so  as  to  put  the  appointive  power  and  full  control  and  manage- 
ment in  the  hands  of  the  Fire  Marshal.  The  salary  of  the  City 
Marshal  was  fixed  at  $4,000  a  year,  and  Mayor  Colvin  on 
July  30,  1875,  appointed  George  L.  Dunlap  the  first  City  Marshal 
under  the  new  law.  August  13  Matthias  Benner  was  appointed 
Fire  Marshal  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Mayor.  October 
4  Jacob  Rehm  resigned  as  Superintendent  of  Police,  and  Mayor 
Colvin  appointed  M.  C.  Hickey  in  his  stead,  and  Joseph  Dixon 
Deputy  Superintendent,  vice  Hickey,  promoted.  November  22, 
1875,  George  L.  Dunlap  resigned  as  City  Marshal,  and  R.  E. 
Goodell  was  named  by  the  Mayor  for  the  office. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  163 

February  28,  1876,  the  Council  passed  an  ordinance  redis- 
ricting the  city  into  eighteen  wards,  thereby  reducing  the  num- 
ber by  two  wards,  as  required  under  the  provisions  of  the  general 
law.  The  general  incorporation  act  having  changed  the  date  of 
the  Mayoralty  elections  from  November  to  April,  Mayor  Colvin 
thought  he  had  the  right,  under  the  new  charter,  to  hold  over 
from  fall  till  spring.  The  Council  had  passed  an  order  for  an 
election  for  city  officers  under  the  new  general  incorporation  act, 
but  had  omitted  all  reference  to  the  office  of  Mayor.  At  a  special 
meeting  of  the  Council  held  March  24,  1876,  Aid.  Woodman  had 
moved  that  the  City  Clerk  be  instructed  to  call  a  "special  election 
for  Mayor,  April  18,  1876,  to  fill  the  existing  vacancy."  The 
motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  21  nays  to  16  ayes.  March  27  the 
Judiciary  Committee  reported  an  ordinance  for  a  special  election 
in  answer  to  the  petition  of  a  large  number  of  citizens  for  a 
special  election  for  Mayor,  and  the  ordinance  was  defeated  by  a 
vote  of  22  nays  to  16  ayes.  The  newspapers  for  some  months 
had  been  making  violent  attacks  upon  Mayor  Colvin's  adminis- 
tration, and  excitement  ran  high.     The  Chicago    Times,   which 

.  .    . 

at  one  time  supported  the  administration,  turned  against  it  and 

Mr.  Colvin  was  denounced  as  a  usurper  of  the  office  of  Mayor. 
Meantime  a  public  movement  was  started  by  Mr.  Colvin's  oppo- 
nents and  a  great  mass  meeting,  numbering  upward  of  40,000 
people,  was  held  in  the  Exposition  building,  and  Thomas  Hoyne 
was  nominated  for  Mayor,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
Council  had  failed  to  observe  the  requirements  of  the  law  in  call- 
ing an  election  for  Mayor.  In  the  ensuing  election,  which  was 
held  April  18,  1876,  there  were  two  tickets  in  the  field,  except  as 
to  Mayor,  Thomas  Hoyne  running  at  large.  The  Democrats 
nominated  a  full  ticket,  except  a  Mayor,  and  the  opposing  ticket 
was  Republican,  but  by  some  variously  called  the  "People's 
Ticket,"  the  "Taxpayer's  Ticket,"  the  "Citizen's  Ticket,"  and  the 
"Municipal  Reform"  ticket.  Thomas  Hoyne  received  33,064 
votes,  against  819  scattering.  The  vote  for  the  respective  can- 
didates on  the  two  tickets  in  the  field  was  as  follows : 

CITY    TREASURER. 

Clinton  Briggs,  Rep.,          -         -         -         -  28,171 

Clark  Lipe,  Dem., 22»755 

CITY  CLERK. 

Caspar  Butz,  Rep., 27>993 

Hans  Haerting,  Dem.,        ...         -  22,829 


164  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

CITY    ATTORNEY. 

Richard  S.  Tuthill,  Rep.,        ....        27,342 
Francis  Adams,  Dem.,       -  22,980 

CLERK  OF  POLICE  COURT. 

Martin  Rest,  Rep.,  *  28,245 

James  H.  Bonfield,  Dem.,  -         -         -  22,238 

A  majority  of  the  reform  Aldermen  were  elected,  the  names 
and  votes  of  the  successful  candidates  being  as  follows  : 

First  Ward,  D.  K.  Pearsons,  1,672  ;  Second  Ward,  Jacob 
Rosenberg,  1,614;  Third  Ward,  William  Aldrich,  1,900;  Fourth 
Ward,  John  W.  Stewart,  2,427;  Fifth  Ward,  Mark  Sheridan, 
2,052;  Sixth  Ward,  E.  F.  Cullerton,  1,467;  Seventh  Ward, 
Henry  Kerber,  1,568  ;  Eighth  Ward,  Frank  Lawler,  2,076  ;  Ninth 
Ward,  John  M.  Van  Osclel,  1,533;  Tenth  Ward,  George  E. 
White,  1,187  ;  Eleventh  Ward,  J.  B.  Briggs,  2,102  ;  Twelfth 
Ward,  S.  H.  McCrea,  2,541  ;  Thirteenth  Ward,  S.  E.  Cleveland, 
959;  Fourteenth  Ward,  M.  Ryan,  2,018  ;  Fifteenth  Ward,  Frank 
Niesen,  2,435;  Sixteenth  Ward,  Frank  Linsenbarth,  1,260; 
Seventeenth  Ward,  Michael  Sweeney,  1,036;  Eighteenth  Ward, 
James  A.  Kirk,  1,886. 

At  the  Council  meeting  of  April  28,  1876,  Aid.  White 
offered  a  resolution,  which  was  adopted,  calling  upon  the  Law 
Department  for  an  opinion  upon  the  following  questions  : 

1.  Is  it  the  duty  of  the  City  Council  to  canvass  the  votes 
cast  at  the  recent  election  for  Mayor? 

2.  If  not,  can  this  Council  or  its  successors  declare  a  vacan- 
cy to  exist  in  the  office  of  Mayor,  and  elect  to  fill  such  vacancy 
one  of  its  members  ? 

The  Law  Department,  at  the  meeting  of  May  1,  1876,  sub- 
mitted an  opinion  by  Egbert  Jamieson,  City  Attorney,  in  which 
both  questions  were  answered  in  the  negative.  Notwithstanding 
this  opinion  Aid.  Cullerton,  who  was  a  member  of  the  old  Coun- 
cil, moved  that  the  clerk  be  instructed  to  announce  the  number 
of  votes  cast  for  Thomas  Hoyne,  or  any  other  person,  for  Mayor. 
Aid.  Woodman  called  for  the  previous  question,  and  the  call  was 
sustained.  The  question  then  being  on  the  motion  of  Aid.  Cul- 
lerton, it  was  lost  by  a  tie.  vote  of  18  to  18.  The  new  officials 
were  duly  sworn  in,  and  the  first  act  of  the  new  Council  was  to 
canvass  the  vote  cast  for  Thomas  Hoyne  and  declare  him  duly 
elected  Mayor.  One  of  the  most  exciting  and  hazardous  periods 
in  the  history  of  the  city  government  ensued.  Mr.  Hoyne  waited 
on  Mayor  Colvin  at  the  old  City  Hall,  known  as  the  "  Rookery," 
and  demanded  that  he  surrender  the  office  of  Mayor.      Mr.  Col- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  1 65 

vin  declined  to  yield  possession,  and  a  municipal  war  became 
imminent.  Mayor  Colvin's  office  and  the  City  Council  chamber 
were  guarded  by  armed  police,  and  collisions  between  the  sup- 
porters of  the  rival  authorities  were  barely  averted  each  day. 
Mr.  Hoyne  was  backed  up  by  the  Council,  and  he  was  recog- 
nized by  all  of  the  departments  except  the  police,  under  Marshal 
Goodell,  and  the  Comptroller's  department.  A  reference  of  the 
dispute  of  authority  was  finally  had  to  the  courts.  Mayor  Col- 
vin  and  Comptroller  Hayes  retained  Egbert  Jamieson  as  their 
counsel  (his  term  as  City  Attorney  having  just  expired),  with 
authority  to  associate  with  him  such  counsel  as  he  desired  for 
the  purpose  of  resisting  the  claim  set  up  by  Mr.  Hoyne.  Judge 
Beckwith  and  W.  C.  Goudy  were  retained  with  Mr.  Jamieson, 
and  proceedings  were  instituted  in  the  Circuit  Court.  At  one 
time  Mayor  Colvin,  who  desired  harmony  and  held  the  interests 
of  the  city  above  personal  consideration,  and  who  was,  besides, 
tired  of  the  many  vexatious  complications,  determined  to  resign, 
and  although  he  never  relinquished  his  claim  of  right  to  the 
office,  he  wrote  out  his  resignation  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of 
his  friends.  His  counsel  convinced  him,  however,  that  the  legal 
proceedings  had  progressed  too  far  to  be  relinquished,  and  that 
further  complications  would  be  apt  to  arise,  and  his  resignation 
was  never  presented  to  the  City  Council.  The  legal  proceed- 
ings extended  over  a  period  of  six  weeks,  and  were  finally  deter- 
mined by  the  full  bench  of  the  Circuit  Court  in  favor  of  Mr.  Col- 
vin. At  one  time  Messrs.  Jamieson  and  Beckwith  favored  the 
arrest  of  Mr.  Hoyne  upon  affidavit  of  Mr.  Colvin,  but  Mr.  Goudy 
dissented  from  this  course.  Mr.  Colvin  refused  to  sign  the  affi- 
davit, and  Judge  Beckwith  thereupon  withdrew  from  the  case. 
Shortly  before  the  close  of  the  proceedings  a  committee  of 
Aldermen  representing  Mr.  Hoyne  called  upon  Mayor  Colvin 
and  proposed  that  both  himself  and  Mr.  Hoyne  should  resign, 
but  this  proposition,  upon  advice  of  his  counsel,  Mayor  Colvin 
declined.  Judge  McAllister,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the 
court,  held  that  Mayor  Colvin  or  the  Council  should  have  issued 
a  formal  call  for  the  election,  as  had  been  customary,  and  further, 
that  the  election  of  Mr.  Hoyne  was  informal.  Mayor  Colvin's 
adherents  have  ever  maintained  that  Mr.  Hoyne  never  was 
Mayor  de  facto,  while  Mr.  Hoyne's  supporters  have  declared  that 
he  was  Mayor  in  fact,  inasmuch  as  he  was  recognized  by  the 
Council,  and  his  acts  were  legalized.  His  first  appointee  was 
Elliott  Anthony,  since  Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court,  to  be  Corpo- 
ration Counsel,  and  the  appointment  was  confirmed  by  a  unani- 


l66  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

mous  vote  of  the  Council,  and  Mr.  Anthony  duly  served  his 
term  out.  A  brief  resume  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Council 
during  this  exciting  period  will  give  from  the  official  records  a 
clear  idea  of  the  character  of  the  contest  as  waged  in  that  body. 
The  first  meeting  of  the  new  Council  was  held  May  8,  1876, 
Mayor  Colvin  in  the  chair.  When  the  Mayor's  message  was 
presented  it  was,  on  motion  of  Aid.  McCrea,  referred  by  a  large 
majority  to  the  "Finance  Committee,  when  that  committee  shall 
have  been  appointed."  On  several  ensuing  motions  the  Council 
refused  to  sustain  the  rulings  of  the  chair  by  votes  of  24  to  12, 
and  26  to  10.  By  the  latter  vote  on  motion  of  Aid.  Aldrich  the 
Clerk  was  instructed  to  produce  the  returns  of  the  last  election, 
and  upon  the  announcement  of  the  result  Aid.  Aldrich  moved 
that  Thomas  Hoyne  be  declared  elected  Mayor  of  the  city  for 
the  term  ending  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  April,  1877.  Mayor 
Colvin  ruled  the  motion  out  of  order  and  refused  to  entertain  an 
appeal.  Aid.  Thompson  then  called  upon  Aid.  Aldrich  to  put 
the  question  on  his  motion,  and  the  latter  stepped  to  the  Clerk's 
desk  and  put  the  question,  and  it  prevailed  by  a  vote  of  25  ayes 
to  1 1  nays.  On  motion  of  Aid.  Thompson  to  fix  the  bond  of  the 
Mayor  in  the  penal  sum  of  $10,000,  Mayor  Colvin  again  re- 
fused to  entertain  the  motion,  and  Aid.  Aldrich  again  put  the 
question  and  the  motion  prevailed  by  a  vote  of  26  ayes  to  10 
nays.  Pursuant  to  the  provision  of  section  5,  article  4,  of  the 
act  of  1875  under  which  the  city  had  been  re-incorporated,  the 
aldermen  then  proceeded  to  draw  lots  for  the  term  to  be  held  by 
each  member  of  the  Council.  Those  drawing  lots  for  the  first 
class,  to  continue  in  office  for  one  year,  were  Aldermen  Pearsons, 
Ballard,  Aldrich,  Gilbert,  Sheridan,  Lodding,  Kerber,  O'Brien, 
Beidler,  Smith,  Briggs,  McCrea,  Cleveland,  Ryan,  Niesen, 
Lengacher,  Murphy  and  Boser.  Those  drawing  lots  of  the 
second  class  to  hold  office  for  two  years  were  Aldermen  Mc- 
Auley,  Rosenberg,  Thompson,  Stewart,  Sommer,  Cullerton, 
Hildreth,  Lawler,  Van  Osdel,  White,  Throop,  Rawleigh,  Wheel- 
er, Baumgarten,  Waldo,  Linsenbarth,  Sweeney  and  Kirk. 
Thus  the  election  of  aldermen  to  alternate  terms  was  established. 
At  the  meeting  of  May  9  the  Clerk  announced  that  Mayor 
Hoyne  had  taken  the  oath  of  office  and  filed  his  official  bond. 
Aid.  Thompson  moved  that  the  bond  be  approved  and  Mayor 
Colvin  refused  to  entertain  the  motion.  The  question  being  put 
by  Aid.  Aldrich  the  bond  was  approved  by  a  vote  of  26  ayes  to 
10  nays.  Aid.  Aldrich  presented  a  preamble  and  resolution 
directing  all  city  officers  to  recognize  Hon.   Thomas   Hoyne  as 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  1  67 

Mayor  and  moved  its  adoption.  Mayor  Colvin  ruled  the  resolu- 
tion out  of  order  and  refused  to  entertain  an  appeal,  but  the 
question  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  was  put  by  Aid.  Aid- 
rich,  who  was  called  upon  by  Aid.  Cullerton  to  do  so,  and  the 
resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  26  for  to  10  against.  May 
1 1  the  Council  met  and  from  the  absence  of  Mayor  Colvin  it 
appeared  that  he  had  given  up  the  fight  temporarily  to  appeal  to 
the  courts.  Aid.  Aldrich  was  made  chairman  of  the  Council  pro 
tempore.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council,  May  15,  the 
Clerk  presented  the  following  communication  from  Mayor 
Hoyne : 

Mayor's  Office,  May  15,  1876.  To  the  Honorable,  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  :  Gentlemen  : — I  have  the 
pleasure  of  communicating  to  you  the  intelligence  that  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  request  contained  in  your  resolutions  of  the  9th  inst., 
I  have  been  recognized  as  the  legally  qualified  and  acting  Mayor 
of  Chicago  by  all  the  departments  of  the  municipal  government, 
except  that  of  the  City  Comptroller,  who,  I  doubt  not,  will  speed- 
ily follow  the  .example  of  the  other  officials.  I  have  the  honor 
to  be  your  obedient  servant,  Thomas  Hoyne,    Mayor: 

Mayor  Hoyne  also  presented  a  complete  list  of  standing  com- 
mittees of  the  Council,  which  was  duly  adopted  by  .a  vote  of  25 
to  9.  The  clerk  announced  that  he  had  in  his  possession  a  com- 
munication from  the  Hon.  H.  D.  Colvin  concerning  the  penal 
sum  of  the  Mayor's  bond.  Aid.  Cullerton  moved  that  the  com- 
munication be  not  received  and  the  motion  prevailed  by  the  cus- 
tomary vote.  It  was  at  this  meeting  of  the  Council  that  the  first 
official  notice  was  received  of  the  defalcation  of  George  Von 
Hollen,  City  Collector.  Aid.  Cullerton  moved,  and  it  was  car- 
ried, that  a  special  committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the  chair, 
whose  duty  it  should  be  to  fully  investigate  the  alleged  losses  of 
the  late  City  Collector,  George  Von  Hollen,  in  various  gambling 
houses  in  the  city,  and  to  that  end,  and  for  the  purpose  of  assist- 
ing said  committee  in  the  recovery  of  said  money,  they  should 
have  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers.  As  members  of 
this  committee  of  investigation  the  chair  appointed  Aid.  Culler- 
ton, Thompson  and  Rawleigh.  May  18  Mayor  Hoyne  assumed 
the  chair  as  presiding  officer  of  the  Council,  and  delivered  his  in- 
augural address.  The  address  was  voluminous  and  replete  with 
recommendations  for  reforms  and  the  better  government  of  the 
city,  the  following  being  extracts  therefrom : 

"Gentlemen  of  the  City  Council  of  Chicago  :  In  meeting 
with  you  for  the  first  time  since  my  election  as  Mayor,  it  seems 


1 68  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

proper  that  I  should  address  to  you  such  remarks  as  the  occasion 
naturally  suggests.  The  firmness  and  dignity  with  which  you 
have  asserted  the  rights  of  the  people  under  circumstances  of  in- 
dignity in  this  chamber,  the  quiet,  manly  self-possession  and  cour- 
age with  which  you  have  conducted  all  your  proceedings,  and 
maintained  the  authority  vested  in  you  by  the  laws,  have  gained 
for  you  almost  the  unanimous  commendations  of  the  community. 
*  *  You  have  entered  upon  the  performance  of  your  very 
honorable  and  important  duties  at  the  most  critical  and  interest- 
ing period  of  our  municipal  government.  Both  as  to  the  circum- 
stances attending  your  election,  as  well  as  to  the  momentous 
issues  involved,  there  has  been  a  feeling  that  no  ordinary  dangers 
menaced  the  prosperity  of  the  city  and  the  happiness  of  our  peo- 
ple. *  *  *  An  immediate  return  to  frugal  expenditures  and 
administrative  purity  is  the  first  demand  of  this  people.  *  *  * 
It  has  rarely  ever  happened  that  in  merely  local  contests  the  en- 
tire body  or  mass  of  people  became  so  directly  engaged  upon  the 
issues  at  stake  as  in  the  last  municipal  election  in  this  city.  *  * 
The  truth  is,  and  the  fact  may  be  candidly  stated,  that  during 
the  last  decade  of  years  there  has  been  growing  up  and  increasing 
in  our  midst  a  class  of  social  and  political  criminals,  somewhat 
peculiar  to  the  civilization  of  large  American  cities.  *  *  * 
No  despotism  is  more  cruel  or  contemptible  than  that  of  this 
social  barbarism.  The  ballot  box  in  a  free  state  is  the  arbiter  of 
its  destiny.  The  people  make  their  own  laws  and  choose  their 
own  rulers,  but  the  choice  is  made  through  the  expression  of  the 
ballot  box  as  the  vehicle  through  which  their  supreme  will  can 
be  conveyed.  *  *  *  The  people  of  Chicago  have  learned 
with  amazement  that  at  an  election  held  in  this  city  last  year,  the 
judges  appointed  to  have  custody  of  the  boxes  and  count  the 
ballots,  themselves  criminally  outraged  the  ballot  boxes  of  the 
voters  by  stuffing  them  with  illegal  votes,  and  that  thus  the 
legitimate  will  of  the  people,  on  a  question  so  grave  as  the  adop- 
tion of  the  present  charter  of  municipal  government,  was  defeated. 

*  The  successful  working  of  such  schemes  accounts  for 
the  number  of  men  without  other  'visible  means  of  support'  than 
the  places  which  they  obtain  as  partisans  in  the  public  offices. 

*  They  constitute  the  moral  pest  which  disseminates 
the  poison* of  official  life,  and  debauches  the  tone  of  public  morals. 
The  justice  of  the  courts  has  been  debilitated  in  vigor.  The 
atmosphere  of  the  jury  box  and  the  witness  stand  is  redolent  of 
perjury  and  intrigue.  If  the  decrees  of  courts  are  not  openly  ex- 
posed for  sale,  it  is  not  because  there  are  not  official  purchasers 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  1 69 

ready  to  pay  the  price  of  such  wares.  The  situation  as  respects 
the  city  has  been  summed  up  by  the  late  Grand  Jury  in  language 
no  less  graphic  than  truthful  in  relation  to  the  county,  where  they 
say  :  'The  system  of  management  employed  by  the  County 
Board  is  rotten.  Officialism  is  degraded  by  its  low  intellectual 
character,  its  depreciated  moral  tone,  its  constant  association 
with  jobbery,  extravagance,  intermediates,  perjury  and  incom- 
petence.' 

"A  legitimate  fruit  of  this  is  the  recent  Gage  and  Von  Hollen 
defalcations — the  loss  of  over  half  a  million  of  dollars  to  the 
public.  *  *  *  Under  such  circumstances  the  late  adminis- 
tration of  city  affairs,  in  which  were  many  we  must  recognize  as 
among  the  best  of  our  citizens,  and  whom  I  entirely  exonerate 
from  suspicion,  seemed  utterly  overpowered  by  the  official  in- 
fluence in  which  they  hopelessly  struggled  to  overcome  the  con- 
stant repetition  of  outrage  upon  outrage  inflicted  by  a  corrupt 
and  inexorable  majority.  *  *  *  They  neglected  to  retrench 
or  economize  in  the  matter  of  public  expenditures.  *  *  * 
They  increased  the  amount  of  the  tax  levies  and  made  new  offices. 

*  *  *  They  increased  the  public  indebtedness  of  the  city 
nearly  five  millions   of  dollars  beyond  the  constitutional   limit. 

*  *  *  They  have  actually  jeopardized  a  municipal  credit 
which  was  never  before  impeached  by  illegimate  issues  of  time 
loan  certificates,  placed  upon  the  markets  of  foreign  cities,  against 
law  and  every  remonstrance  which  could  be  urged  in  depreciation 
of  so  fatal  and  ruinous  a  policy.  *  * __  *  I  think  the  people 
demand  a  discontinuance  and  the  utter  abandonment  of  the  whole 
certificate  system  as  soon  as  possible,  and  the  anticipation  of  rev- 
enue in  advance  of  its  collection  for  any  purpose.  *  *  *  I 
would  deem  it  of  the  very  first  importance  that  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible there  should  be  a  committee  appointed  with  power  to  in- 
vestigate all  city  offices,  and  all  sources  of  expenditure,  with  a 
view  to  retrenchment  in  all  directions  where  it  may  safely  be 
done.  If  a  million  and  a  half  can  be  saved  out  of  the  appropri- 
ation as  made  by  the  late  Council,  it  will  go  far  toward  liquidating 
the  illegal  certificates  of  indebtedness  created,  and  placing  in  our 
hands  funds  to  run  the  schools,  pay  the  members  of  the  police 
and  fire  departments,  the  laborers  and  other  employes  of  the 
government  to  whom  it  is  now  in  arrears.  *  *  *  It  seems 
that,  exclusive  of  the  school  service,  the  city  employs  a  total  num- 
ber of  persons  in  all  departments  of  about  1,316  persons.  The 
aggregate  compensation  of  this  number  is  $1,459,000.  This  is 
an  average  of  about  $1,100  per  annum  for  each  person.     With- 


I/O  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

out  any  knowledge  of  the  details,  I  venture  the  assertion  that 
neither  in  any  other  civil  service  of  any  government,  or  any 
private  business  or  enterprise  whatever,  where  so  large  a  number 
of  persons  are  employed,  even  when  skilled  labor  constitutes  the 
mass  of  the  employed,  has  there  ever  been  so  high  an  average 
compensation  paid  among  so  large  a  number  of  persons." 

The  message  proceeded  to  show  that  an  average  of  $600  per 
annum  to  each  employe  would  be  sufficient,  and  that  a  saving  of 
$786,282  per  annum  would  be  effected  by  a  reduction  to  this 
average  ;  that  of  the  offices  of  two  chiefs,  a  marshal  and  a  super- 
intendent of  police,  each  at  a  salary  of  $4,000,  at  least  one  should 
be  abolished ;  that  patrolmen  should  receive  $600  instead  of 
$1,000  per  annum  ;  that  instead  of  four  Commissioners  of  Public 
Works  at  salaries  of  $4,000  each,  one  competent  head  could  do 
the  work  ;  that  the  total  expense  of  the  Public  Works  Depart- 
ment was  $227,000,  whereas  the  entire  expense  of  running  the 
municipal  government  of  Milwaukee,  a  city  one-fourth  the  size  of 
Chicago,  was  but  $202,000  ;  that  the  Board  of  Health  should  be 
abolished  and  the  duties  transferred  to  one  faithful  and  compe- 
tent superintendent  at  a  saving  of  $50,000  ;  that  the  total  ex- 
pense of  lighting  the  streets  was  $700,000,  whereas  it  should  be 
but  $300,000,  a  saving  of  $400,000  ;  that  $75,000  could  be  saved 
in  the  fire  department  expenditures  ;  that  an  additional  revenue 
of  $10,000  per  annum  could  be  obtained  from  the  police  courts 
by  requiring  a  strict  account  of  fines  to  be  rendered  ;  that  four 
special  policemen  for  the  Mayor  at  an  aggregate  expense  of 
$3,540  should  be  abolished;  that  the  $1 1,000  appropriated  annual- 
ly for  the  support  of  the  Tax  Commissioners'  office  should  be 
saved  ;  that  functionary  having  ceased  to  perform  any  essential 
duties  under  the  new  law  in  force,  and  that  the  forces  of  fifteen 
street  foremen,  thirteen  sidewalk  inspectors,  twenty-eight  sanitary 
policemen  should  be  reduced  and  the  Department  of  the  Inspect- 
ion of  Buildings  at  an  expense  of  $13,880  per  annum,  should  be 
abolished.     The  message  closed  as  follows  : 

"In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  two  generations  of  men  have  not 
passed  away  since  the  site  of  this  city  was  known  as  a  military 
fortress  in  the  Indian  country — one  of  the  frontier  posts  of  the 
far  West.  Many  of  the  earliest  settlers  are  still  among  you,  and 
although  their  hairs  are  whitening  they  are  still  vigorous  and  of 
active  life.  It  is  only  thirty-eight  years  since  the  city  was  organ- 
ized under  its  first  charter  of  government,  when  it  contained  less 
than  3,000  souls.  To  day  with  500,000  people  and  $600,- 
000,000  of  an  annual  trade,  we  have  become  the  fourth  city  in 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  171 

rank  and  trade  of  the  United  States.  The  position  of  the  city 
on  the  great  lines  of  that  water  communication  which  connects  the 
two  gulfs,  of  Mexico  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  is  the  natural  seat  of 
a  great  metropolis,  while  our  railroad  system  connects  us  with 
every  remote  part  of  the  American  continent.  The  energy  and 
intelligence  of  our  people  have  overcome  the  effects  of  two  of 
the  greatest  conflagrations,  one  of  which,  as  a  great  calamity,  has 
never  been  surpassed  in  any  history  of  a  people.  The  rise,  prog- 
ress and  prosperity  of  Chicago  are  without  any  parallel  in 
growth  among  cities  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  And  now  the 
question  comes  to  every  anxious  and  loving  heart,  proud  of  her 
glory,  her  unrivaled  history  and  marvelous  achievements,  What 
of  the  future  ?  Is  this  magnificent  progress  to  continue,  or  is  it 
to  be  now  arrested?  The  answer  rests  with  you,  the  represent- 
atives of  the  people.  The  question  is  one  of  government — Shall 
it  be  good  or  bad  ?  We  combine  in  this  city  all  the  material 
elements  of  production,  wealth,  capital,  machinery,  energy,  a 
young,  thrifty  and  enterprising  mixture  of  races — all  we  need  is 
the  protection  of  life  and  property,  a  good  and  economical  muni- 
cipal government,  with  wise  and  honest  rulers  to  manage  our 
affairs,  and  there  is  nothing  which  has  ever  been  predicted  by  the 
most  sagacious  or  sanguine  as  to  the  future  of  Chicago  which 
will  not  be  exceeded  in  the  glory,  prosperity  and  greatness  of 
that  genius  of  her  destiny  which  has  attended  her  progress  from 
the  beginning." 

At  this  meeting  Aid.  Pearsons  presented  the  following  res- 
olution which  was  adopted  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Comptroller  be  and  is  hereby  authorized 
and  directed  to  make  such  arrangements  as  may  be  practicable 
and  legal  to  pay  punctually  at  maturity  all  the  certificates  of  in- 
debtedness of  the  City  of  Chicago  issued  for  actual  loans  of 
money  to  the  city,  or  for  other  liabilities  for  which  an  appropri- 
ation and  tax  levy  have  been  made."  At  the  ensuing  meeting  of 
the  Council,  May  22,  a  communication  was  received  from  Mayor 
Hoyne  removing  from  office  forty-five  employes  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  and  recommending  that  all  duties  pertaining  to  the  Board 
of  Health  be  referred  to  and  placed  under  the  superintendence 
of  Dr.  Brockholst  McVickar,  the  President  of  the  Board.  In 
another  communication  Mayor  Hoyne  stated  that  he  had  re- 
moved from  office  all  the  persons,  thirteen  in  number,  employed 
in  the  Department  of  Buildings,  and  recommended  that  until 
further  orders,  the  duties  of  the  department  be  referred  to  and 
performed  under,  the  direction  of  the   Board   of   Public  Works. 


I  72  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

Mayor  Hoyne  also  announced  that  he  had  removed  S.  S.  Hayes, 
the  City  Comptroller,  from  office,  for  the  reason  that  over  his 
own  signature  in  a  morning  paper  Mr.  Hayes  deliberately  declared 
his  adherence  to  the  financial  policy  which  had  already  been  con- 
demned and  had  compromised  and  jeopardized  the  credit  of  the 
city.  "He  insists,"  said  Mayor  Hoyne,  "as  the  financial  officer  of 
the  city,  upon  continuing  the  issue  of  certificates  drawn  against 
the  tax  levy  of  the  year  1876 — not  to  pay  the  sums  appropriated 
toward  the  expenses  of  this  year,  for  which  the  levy  was 
made,  but  to  pay  and  take  up  certificates  unlawfully  issued  in 
former  years,  and  now  about  maturing.  I  am  satisfied  that  if 
the  levy  of  1876  is  drawn  against  for  this  purpose  to  the  extent 
contemplated,  of  75  per  cent,  to  pay  outstanding  certificates,  the 
present  Council  will  find  itself  without  funds  to  pay  its  current 
expenses,  such  as  policemen,  firemen,  laborers,  etc.,  before  the 
end  of  the  fiscal  year."  Mayor  Hoyne  nominated  to  succeed 
Mr.  Hayes,  incase  his  removal  was  confirmed,  the  Hon.  R.  P. 
Derickson.  The  Council  confirmed  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Derickson  by  a  vote  of  20  in  the  affirmative  to  1 1  in  the  nega- 
tive. Mayor  Hoyne  further  recommended  the  removal  of  R.  E. 
Goodell,  City  Marshal,  and  the  abolishment  of  the  office,  and 
that  the  Superintendent  of  Police,  M.  C.  Hickey,  be  required  to 
perform  the  duties  theretofore  appertaining  to  the  office.  The 
Committee  on  Police  also  reported  in  favor  of  abolishing  the 
office  of  Marshal,  the  reduction  of  salaries,  and  a  general  re- 
organization of  the  police  force  as  recommended  by  the  Mayor 
in  his  message.  At  this  memorable  meeting  of  the  Council  the 
bond  of  Clinton  Briggs  as  City  Treasurer,  in  the  penal  sum  of 
$5,000,000,  was  approved,  the  sureties  being  Clinton  Briggs, 
William  F.  Coolbaugh,  Calvin  T.  Wheeler,  Asa  Dow,  David 
Kreigh,  Matthew  Laflin,  Joseph  O.  Rutter,  M.  C.  Stearns  and 
Daniel  O'Hara.  At  the  Council  meeting  of  May  31,  the  penal 
sum  of  the  Comptroller's  bond  was  fixed  at  $100,000  ;  the  office 
of  City  Marshal  was  abolished,  and  the  Fire  Department  was 
directed  and  authorized  to  establish  a  department  of  repairs. 
Beginning  with  the  session  of  June  5,  1876,  each  succeeding 
meeting  grew  more  lively  and  exciting  for  the  ensuing  month. 
The  decision  of  Judge  McAllister  on  the  Mayoralty  contest  in- 
duced Mr.  Hoyne  to  desist  from  any  active  antagonism  of  Mr. 
Colvin,  who  assumed  the  functions  of  acting  Mayor  and  presided 
over  the  Council,  but  the  anti-Colvin  majority  of  the  Council 
made  his  position  anything  but  a  pleasant  one  to  maintain. 
June  5    Mayor  Colvin  sent  a  message  to  the  Council  approving 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  73 

the  ordinance  abolishing  the  office  of  City  Marshal  and  notify- 
ing the  Council  that  he  had  removed  R.  E.  Goodell,  already  re- 
moved by  Mayor  Hoyne,  from  the  office  of  Marshal.  On 
motion  of  Aid.  McCrea  this  communication  was  accepted  and 
placed  on  file.  Another  communication  from  Mayor  Colvin  an- 
nouncing that  he  had  removed  Messrs.  Redmond  Prindiville,  J. 
K.  Thompson  and  Louis  Wahl  from  the  office  of  Commissioners 
of  Public  Works  and  had  apppointed  E.  S.  Chesbrough  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  the  officials  removed,  was  received,  and  Aid. 
Cullerton  moved  that  the  action  of  the  Mayor  be  not  concurred 
in.  Mayor  Colvin  ruled  that  the  motion  under  a  standing  rule 
of  the  Council  must  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Judiciary. 
Aid.  Cullerton  appealed  from  the  decision  of  the  chair  and  his 
appeal  was  sustained,  and  on  a  subsequent  ballot  his  motion  pre- 
vailed by  yeas  28,  nays  6.  Mayor  Colvin's  next  move  in  his 
contest  with  the  Council  was  to  return  without  his  approval  the 
resolution  passed  May  31,  fixing  the  bond  of  Comptroller 
Derickson  at  $100,000.  To  effect  this  the  Council  passed  the 
resolution  over  the  Mayor's  veto  by  a  vote  of  24  to  11.  This 
approval  of  the  bond  was  in  turn  vetoed  by  the  Mayor  and  the 
Council  again  affirmed  their  action  by  approving  the  bond  over 
the  Mayor's  veto.  A  call  for  a  special  meeting  of  the  Council  to 
consider  the  advisability  of  calling  a  special  election  for  Mayor 
pursuant  to  the  recommendation  of  the  Finance  Committee,  was 
issued  and  signed  by  Aldermen  J.  W.  Stewart,  James  H.  Gilbert, 
William  Aldrich  and  Mark  Sheridan,  and  pursuant  to  this  call 
the  Council  met  on  June  7,  1876.  In  the  ordinance  as  report- 
ed by  the  committee  the  27th  day  of  June  was  fixed  upon  as  the 
date  for  holding  the  special  election.  At  the  next  meeting,  June 
12,  the  ordinance  was  amended  by  making  the  date  of  the 
election  July  12,  and  it  was  then  passed,  after  several  obstructive 
votes  had  been  overcome,  by  a  vote  of  25  ayes  to  10  nays.  At 
the  meeting  of  June  19  communications  were  received  from  Mr. 
Colvin  announcing  that  he  had  removed  Redmond  Prindiville 
from  the  office  of  Commissioner  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works,  and 
appointed  J  ohnO'Neill  to  fill  the  vacancy  created, and  had  removed 
Thomas  Hamilton  as  inspector  of  steam  boilers,  and  appointed 
John  D.  Murphy  in  his  stead.  The  Council  refused  by  a  vote  of 
32  to  2  to  concur  in  the  removal  of  Redmond  Prindiville  and  re- 
ferred to  the  committee  on  fire  and  water  the  appointment  of 
John  D.  Murphy.  At  this  meeting  the  action  of  Mr.  Hoyne  in 
removing  the  employes  in  the  Department  of  Buildings  was  ap- 
proved, and  the  Council  by  a  vote  of  25  to  5  passed  an  ordinance 


174  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

abolishing  the  office  of  City  Comptroller  and  transferring  the 
duties  of  the  office  to  the  City  Clerk.  At  the  next  ensuing 
meeting  of  the  Council,  June  21,  Aid.  McCrea  presented  the 
following  communication  : 

"Hon.  S.  H.  McCrea,  Chairman  Finance  Committee  :  Dear 
Sir, — Inasmuch  as  I  one  week  ago  proposed  to  the  Hon.  S.  S. 
Hayes  that  we  should  both  relinquish  our  claims  to  the  office  of 
Comptroller  in  order  that  the  city  affairs  might  not  be  embar- 
rassed, and  that  Mr.  J.  A.  Farwell,  Chief  Clerk  in  the  Comp- 
troller's office,  be  appointed  to  fill  the  place  ;  and  it  has  come  to 
my  knowledge  that  Mr.  Hayes  has  consented  to  resign  his  claims 
to  that  office,  and  that  the  acting  Mayor  has  consented  to  ap- 
point Mr.  Farwell  to  the  position,  I  therefore,  through  you, 
present  to  the  Mayor  and  City  Council  my  resignation  of  the 
office  of  Comptroller,  to  take  effect  on  the  appointment  and  con- 
firmation of  J.  A.  Farwell  to  the  same  office.      R.  P.  Derickson." 

A  communication  from  Mr.Colvin  followed, wherein  he  named 
Mr.  Farwell  for  Comptroller,  and  this  appointment  was  con- 
firmed by  a  vote  of  ayes  26,  nays  none.  During  July  the  city's 
revenue  reached  so  low  a  stage  that  a  number  of  moves  in  the 
direction  of  closer  economy  and  increase  of  revenue  were  es- 
sayed. The  Comptroller  was  directed  by  the  Council  to  prepare 
and  submit  a  list  of  the  names  of  property  owners  who  had  been 
'successful  in  defrauding  the  city  out  of  its  just  revenues  for  the 
years  1873  and  1874;  a  select  committee  composed  of  Aid. 
Cullerton,  McCrea,  Kirk,  McAuley  and  Cleveland  was  appoint- 
ed to  confer  with  the  city  officials  and  employes  in  reference  to 
a  voluntary  reduction  of  salaries.  July  3  a  preamble  and 
resolution  were  presented  requesting  the  Governor  to  call  a 
special  session  of  the  Legislature  for  the  purpose  of  enacting 
laws  that  would  facilitate  the  collection  of  taxes.  At  the  same 
meeting  Aid.  Kirk  presented  a  preamble  and  resolutions  direct- 
ing the  Committee  on  Judiciary  to  prepare  ordinances  for  dis- 
banding the  Police  Fire  Departments,  abolishing  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Works  and  annulling  contracts  with  the  gas  com- 
panies. The  Committee  on  Finance  submitted  a  report  setting 
forth  that  while  the  books  of  the  Comptroller  showed  the  liabili- 
ties of  the  City  exclusive  of  the  bonded  indebtedness  to  be  only 
about  $5,000  in  excess  of  the  apparent  assets,  that  in  reality 
these  assets  were  in  a  measure  worthless  and  doubtful.  The  re- 
port went  on  to  state, — "Of  the  items  included  among  the  assets 
it  is  the  opinion  of  your  Committee  that  the  sums  of  $108,007.59 
and  $180,323.62,  uncollected  taxes  for  the  years  1869  and  1870, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  75 

are  entirely  worthless.  The  fire  of  1871,  which  destroyed  the 
Assessor's  and  Collector's  books,  with  the  County  Records,  also 
destroyed  a  large  part  of  the  property  upon  which  said  sums 
were  levied,  and  consequently  the  collection  of  said  sums  is  en- 
tirely impracticable.  It  is  also  the  opinion  of  your  committee 
that,  of  the  amount  of  uncollected  taxes  for  1S71,  not  more  than 
25  per  cent,  can  reasonably  be  counted  on  as  available  ;  of  the 
taxes  for  1872  not  more  than  50  per  cent.  ;  of  the  taxes  for  1873, 
not  more  than  75  per  cent.  ;  of  those  for  1874  not  more  than  80 
per  cent.  ;  of  those  for  1875,  not  more  than  90  per  cent.  We 
think  that  these  estimates  of  the  percentage  that  can  be  collect- 
ed of  the  amounts  uncollected  for  the  respective  years  are  fully 
as  large  as  can  reasonably  be  expected,  judging  from  past  ex- 
perience. Some  of  the  taxes  are  long  past  due  ;  much  levied  on 
personal  property,  which,  with  its  owners,  has  disappeared  ;  and 
some  of  the  real  estate  taxes  will  be  lost  through  mis-description 
and  otherwise.  The  balance  sheet,  thus  corrected,  will  more 
nearly  exhibit  the  financial  condition  of  the  city  at  the  present 
time,  and,  omitting  the  amount  of  the  appropriation  of  1876  on 
both  sides  of  the  account,  will  show  assets  of  $5,122,120.02,  and 
liabilities  of  $6,697,090.83."  After  charging  that  the  city  had 
been  left  with  an  inheritance  of  debt  amounting  to  $j, 574, 910.81, 
for  the  present  Council  to  provide  for  in  some  manner  other  than 
from  any  resources  transmitted  by  the  former  administration,  the 
report  proceeded  further  to  show  that  in  addition  to  this  it  was 
reasonably  certain  that  the  city  would  not  be  able  to  realize  the 
full  amount  of  $587,597.18  appearing  on  the  Comptroller's  books 
as  charged  to  David  A.  Gage,  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.,  and 
Treasurer  Daniel  O'Hara  ;  that  there  would  be  a  shrinkage  in 
that  item  of  at  least  $250,000,  and  probably  an  additional 
amount  besides  of  about  $100,000  on  account  of  the  Von  Hollen 
defalcation,  making  an  aggregate  total  deficiency  of  $1,924,970.81. 
The  appropriations  for  the  current  fiscal  year  were  made,  with 
the  exception  of  $500,000,  for  specific  objects,  and  could  not 
legally  be  diverted  to  other  purposes. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Committee  there  was  but  one  way  in 
which  this  inherited  deficit  could  be  made  good,  and  that  was 
by  making  provision  for  it  by  proper  appropriations  in  the  future, 
to  be  met  partly  by  applying  to  this  object  the  unexpended  ap- 
propriations for  such  improvements  as  might  be  dispensed  with, 
and  by  postponing  the  payment  of  indebtedness  to  certain  specific 
funds. 

Ex-Comptroller  Hayes  having  sent  a  communication  to  the 


I  76  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Council  questioning'  the  official  acts  of  Mayor  de  facto  Thomas 
Hoyne,  and  the  action  of  the  Finance  Committee  which  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Judiciary,  that  committee 
made  a  report  declaring  that  Mr.  Hoyne  was  not  only 
Mayor  de  facto  but  also  Mayor  de  jure.  The  report  went 
on  to  say  that  "the  Council  must,  however,  recognize  the 
condition  of  matters  as  they  actually  exist.  By  the  withdrawal 
of  Mr.  Hoyne  from  the  contest  Mr.  Colvin  became  and  is  acting 
Mayor,  and  his  acts  as  such  are  perfectly  valid.  There  can  be  no 
question,  also,  that  the  City  Attorney  was  right  in  holding  that 
Mr.  Hayes,  who  was  held  in  the  position  of  Comptroller  by  the 
power  of  the  Mayor,  was  Comptroller  de  facto,  and  that  his  acts 
as  such  were  perfectly  valid  so  long  as  he  remained  in  the  oc- 
cupancy of  the  chair." 

The  closing  features  of  the  Colvin  administration  were  a 
report  of  the  special  committee  in  favor  of  abolishing  the  Board 
of  Public  Works  and  the  Board  of  Health,  and  re-organizing  the 
same — the  Board  of  Public  Works  under  a  Commissioner  at  a 
salary  of  $3,000  per  year,  and  the  Board  of  Health  under  a 
Health  Officer  at  $1,500  a  year  salary — and  a  report  of  the 
Finance  Committee  adverse  to  the  resolution  to  disband  the 
Police  and  Fire  Departments. 

Hon.  Harvey  D.  Colvin,  who  was  elected  Mayor  in  1873 
by  a  majority  of  10,251  votes,  was  born  in  Herkimer  County, 
New  York,  in  1814.  His  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  18 12- 
1814.  He  engaged  in  various  occupations  in  New  York  state 
until  the  year  1854,  when  he  came  to  Chicago  as  the  general 
agent  of  the  United  States  Express  Company,  which  position  he 
has  since  retained.  Politically  Mr.  Colvin  was  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party  until  1864,  when,  like  so  many  others  of  his 
persuasion,  he  deemed  that  the  interest  of  his  country  demanded 
the  re-election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  cast  his  ballot  for  him, 
working  ever  since  in  the  cause  of  the  Republican  party.  As  a 
business  man  Mr.  Colvin  is  characterized  by  promptness  and  de- 
cision. He  was  married  July  3,  1836,  to  Miss  Nancy  Church- 
ill, and  has  a  family  of  six  children,  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
One  of  the  sons,  John  H.  Colvin,  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  City  Council  from    1879  to  1887. 

Thomas  Hoyne  was  urged  to  again  become  a  candidate  for 
Mayor,  but  he  refused,  saying  he  considered  that  he  had  already 
performed  his  duty  to  the  public. 

The  career  of  Thomas  Hoyne,  L.L.D,  to  whose  services 
much  of  the  wonderful   growth  of  the  great  metropolis  of  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  IJJ 

West  is  due,  is  full  of  interest  to  every  citizen.  The  remarkable 
success  met  with  by  him  in  his  profession  as  a  lawyer  was  no 
less  notable  than  his  achievements  as  an  honorable  politician, 
and  public-spirited  and  patriotic  citizen.  He  was  a  man  of  strik- 
ing individuality — able,  original,  genial  and  companionable. 
These  characteristics  made  him  immensely  popular,  and  his  name 
familiar  to  all.  In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat,  but  his  personal 
following  included  a  host  of  men  of  different  political  faith.  He 
was  born  in  New  York  City  February  1 1,  181  7,  his  parents  having 
emigrated  from  Ireland  two  years  previous.  His  father  died  in 
1829,  and  his  mother  the  year  following,  leaving  Thomas  the 
eldest  of  seven  orphan  children.  He  had  attended  St.  Peter's 
school,  and  in  1830  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  manufacturer  of 
fancy  goods,  and  was  thus  engaged  for  five  years,  during  which 
time  he  joined  a  literary  association,  his  natural  bent  being  to- 
ward mental  accomplishments  rather  than  mercantile  pursuits, 
and  in  this  literary  association  was  thrown  into  contact  with  such 
able  minds  as  George  Manierre  (afterward  a  judge),  Horace 
Greeley,  Charles  P.  Daly  (who  became  a  judge),  W.  B.  Maclay, 
and  Moses  B.  Maclay.  Young  Hoyne  early  decided  to  enter 
the  legal  profession  ;  and,  after  concluding  his  self-appointed 
studies  in  Latin,  Greek  and  the  English  branches,  he  en- 
tered, in  1836,  the  office  of  Judge  Brinkerhoff.  A  year  later  he 
came  to  Chicago,  and  found  his  old  companion,  George  Manierre, 
who  was  a  deputy  under  Col.  Hamilton,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court.  Hoyne  found  employment  in  this  office,  his  salary  being 
$10  per  week.  In  1838  he  taught  one  of  the  first  public  schools 
organized  in  Chicago,  and  in  the  same  year  he  entered  the  law 
office  of  J.  Young  Scammon,  and  in  1839,  when  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  His  success  was 
prompt  and  pronounced.  He  was  elected  City  Clerk  by  the 
Democrats  in  1840,  and  proved  himself  an  able  and  conscien- 
tious official.  From  1847  to  I§49  ne  hdd  the  office  of  Probate 
Justice  of  the  Peace.  Mr.  Hoyne  was  appointed  United  States 
District  Attorney  for  Illinois  by  President  Pierce,  in  1853,  and 
in  1859  was  made  United  States  Marshal  for  the  Northern  dis- 
trict of  the  state.  While  holding  this  office  he  superintended 
the  taking  of  the  United  States  census  for  his  district.  Mr. 
Hoyne's  ability  as  a  lawyer  had  in  the  meantime  been  recog- 
nized by  the  entire  country,  and  as  an  orator  he  had  taken  a 
place  in  the  front  rank.  He  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the 
Mexican  War,  but  upon  the  passage  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso, 
prohibiting  the  extension  of  slavery  into  any  territory  acquired 


I  78  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

from  Mexico,  he  became  a  Free  Soiler.      He  had  supported  Van 
Buren   and  Adams  on  the   Buffalo  platform  of   1848.      At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  he  was  in  accord  with 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  no  one  was  more   active  than  Thomas 
Hoyne  in  arousing  public   sentiment  in  the  patriotic  struggle  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union.      He  was  a  member  of  the  Union 
Defense  Committee,  and  also  of  the  committee  selected  to  urge 
upon    President    Lincoln   the   necessity  of    making  a  campaign 
down  the  Mississippi  in  1862.      In  tl\e  controversy  between  Con- 
gress and   Andrew  Johnson   after  the  close  of  the  war  and  the 
assassination  of  Lincoln,  Mr.  Hoyne's  sympathies  were  with  the 
President.      In  1866  Mr.  Hoyne  was  a  delegate  to  the  Conserva- 
tive  Convention  held  at   Philadelphia.       He  supported  Horace 
Greeley  for  President  in  1872,  and  cast  the  vote  of  the  First  Illi- 
nois district  in  the  Electoral  college.     In  1874  he  acted  with  the 
opposition,   so-called,   and  aided  in  drawing  up  the  call  of  the 
Democratic  State  Committee,  embodying  a  specie  plank,  free 
commerce,   civil  rights,   and  other  popular  issues  of  that  time. 
He  was   nominated  for  Congress  by  acclamation  by  the  Demo- 
crats of  the  First  Illinois  district  in  1870,  but  declined  the  honor, 
and  the  Hon.  John  Wentworth  was  nominated  instead.      It  was 
through  the  efforts  of    Mr.    Hoyne  that  the  Municipal  Reform 
Club  was  organized   in    1876.     Of    the  Mayoralty   contest  his 
biographer  says  :  "  The  Circuit  Court  decided  by  a  vote  of  three 
to  two  that  the  election  was  illegal,  on  the  ground  that  the  Com- 
mon Council  had  not  issued  the  call  as  provided  by  law.      It  was 
claimed  by  the  friends  of  the   popular  candidate  that  the  Court 
had   no  jurisdiction  in  the  premises,  but  Mr.  Hoyne  refused   to 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court,  declaring  that  inasmuch  as  a  reform 
had  been  accomplished   he  was  satisfied."      In  1881    Mr.  Hoyne 
was  nominated  for  Congress,  but  declined  to  make  the  race,  pre- 
ferring to  devote  his  attention  to  professional  work.     Mr.  Hoyne 
was  an  active  member  of  the  Mechanics'   Institute,  Academy  of 
Science,  and  Chicago  Historical  Society.      He  was   President  in 
1850  of  the  Young  Men's  Association,  the  leading  library  organ- 
ization of  the  city.      He   succeeded  William  B.  Ogden  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  an 
institution  in  which   he  had  long  taken  an  active  and  beneficial 
interest.     He  contributed  $5,000  to  the  fund  for  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  university,  and  the  trustees  established  a  chair  in  the 
faculty  called  "The   Hoyne   Professorship  of  International  and 
Constitutional   Law."      He  was  instrumental  in  establishing  the 
observatory,  and  bought  for  it  the  great    Landlade   telescope. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I  79 

After  the  great  fire  of  1S71,  when  liberal  contributions  were 
coming  in  for  the  new  public  library,  he  was  among  the  first  to 
respond,  and  was  elected  President  of  the  first  Board  of  Direc- 
tors. 

Thursday,  July  26,  1883,  Mr-  Hoyne  left  Chicago  for  his 
annual  vacation,  intending  to  visit  Saratoga  and  the  White 
Mountains.  Friday  evening  the  sad  intelligence  was  received  in 
Chicago  that  he  had  lost  his  life  at  Carleton  Station,  N.  Y.,  in  a 
collision  on  the  Rome,  Watertown  &  Ogdensburg  Railroad. 
The  body  arrived  in  Chicago  the  following  Monday.  Seldom 
does  the  death  of  a  well-known  citizen  call  forth  such  unanimous 
expressions  of  sorrow  and  esteem  as  were  exhibited  over  the  un- 
timely ending  of  Mr.  Hoyne's  blameless  career.  The  remains 
were  received  by  a  committee  of  the  Iroquois  Club,  of  which 
Mr.  Hoyne  had  been  one  of  the  leading  spirits,  and  the  funeral 
was  held  the  following  day  from  St.  Mary's  church.  All  public 
offices  were  closed,  and  city  and  county  officials  attended  the 
funeral  in  a  body,  the  melancholy  cortege  including  the  leading 
lawyers  and  citizens,  and  delegations  of  organizations  innu- 
merable. The  remains  now  lie  in  Rose  Hill  Cemetery.  Special 
memorial  meetings  were  held  and  resolutions  passed  by  the 
Chicago  College  of  Law,  Chicago  University,  Bar  Association, 
Historical  Society,  Public  Library  Board,  Iroquois  Club,  and 
other  representative  bodies,  while  resolutions  eulogistic  of  the 
ability,  attainments,  patriotism  and  worth  of  the  dead  citizen 
were  spread  upon  the  records  of  the  various  courts.  Action 
relative  to  his  death  was  taken  by  the  Common  Council  July 
30,  1883,  when  Mayor  Harrison  read  the  following  communi- 
cation : 

"To  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago  : 

"Gentlemen  :  It  is  eminently  fit  and  proper  that  your  honor- 
able body  should  take  some  appropriate  action  upon  the  death  of 
Thomas  Hoyne.  Mr.  Hoyne  has  for  over  forty  years  been 
identified  with  the  history  of  Chicago.  He  has  held  here  the 
positions  of  City  Clerk,  Judge,  United  States  District  Attorney, 
United  States  Marshal,  and,  for  a  short  time  in  1876,  that  of 
Mayor. 

"Mr.  Hoyne  was  of  marked  characteristics,  energetic  and 
positive.  He  was  an  honest  man,  whose  uprightness  of  charac- 
ter earned  for  him  the  respect  of  all.  In  his  public  and  pro- 
fessional life  he  was  noted  for  his  eloquence,  his  energy,  his 
ability,  and  the  integrity  of  all  his  acts  and  deeds.  He  took 
great  interest  in  all  public  improvements  and  his  earnestness  and 


l8o  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

positiveness  rendered  his  influence  in  whatever  he  entered  upon 
of  very  great  weight,  He  was  a  public  spirited  citizen  whose 
energetic  character  has  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  city  of 
Chicago.  It  is  the  lot  of  all  men  of  decided  force  of  character 
to  make  enemies  of  some.  He  was  not  an  exception  to  the  rule  ; 
yet  even  those  who  differed  with  him  in  opinion  always  conceded 
the  purity  of  purpose,  and  honesty  of  aim  by  which  Mr.  Hoyne 
was  ever  actuated.  In  private  life  he  was  a  man  of  sterling  in- 
tegrity and  moral  uprightness  ;  one  who  made  strong  friends  and 
stood  by  them. 

"The  tragic  suddenness  of  his  death  has  shocked  the  com- 
munity. While  he  was  upward  of  sixty  years  of  age,  his  vigor- 
ous constitution  and  his  healthful  habits  gave  promise  of  many 
years  yet  of  life,  and  the  terrible  tragedy  of  his  taking  off  seems 
too  sudden  a  close  to  a  life  so  useful  to  the  community,  so  dear 
to  his  friends  and  family.  As  a  man  closely  connected  with  our 
public  interests  so  long,  identified  with  the  city  and  its  affairs,  it 
is  becoming  that  you  should  pass  suitable  resolutions  of  tribute 
and  respect  upon  his  death.  I  have  prepared  the  accompanying 
resolutions,  which  I  herewith  submit  for  your  approval  and 
action.  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor." 

On  motion  of  Aid.  Sanders  the  Council  adopted  the  resolu- 
tions unanimously  and  resolved  to  attend  the  funeral  in  a  body. 
The  following  are  the  resolutions  : 

"Whereas,  There  was  killed  in  the  late  railroad  disaster  in 
New  York  state,  a  citizen  of  Chicago  whose  close  connection 
with  the  interests  of  the  city  and  faithful  services  in  behalf  of  the 
people,  render  his  death  a  public  misfortune  ; 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Thomas  Hoyne  the  city  of 
Chicago  has  lost  one  of  its  most  patriotic,  public-spirited  and 
honorable  citizens  ;  a  man  whose  efforts  in  behalf  of  all  that  he 
believed  to  be  best  for  the  interests  of  this  community,  entitled 
him  to  the  respect  and  admiration  of  all  good  citizens. 

"Resolved,  That  all  city  offices  be  closed  during  the  hours  of 
the  funeral,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased. 

"Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  duly  published  in  the 
proceedings  of  this  body,  and  copies  hereof  be  furnished  the  press 
for  publication,  and  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  WHISKY    RING THE  GREELEY  MOVEMENT CAMPAIGN  OF   1872 

PATRONS    OF     HUSBANDRY GRANGERISM STATE    CAMPAIGN 

OF   1874 THE  GREENBACKERS CAMPAIGN  OF   1876 — ELECTION 

OF    DAVID    DAVIS    TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE HIS    LIFE 

STATE    CAMPAIGN  OF   1878 THE    SOCIALISTS MAYOR    HEATH'S 

ELECTION  TO  THE  "  SHORT  TERM" — SECOND    ELECTION  AND  AD- 
MINISTRATION. 

In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1874  charges  were  made  in  Chicago, 
St.  Louis  and  Washington  newspapers  that  a  gigantic  "  ring," 
connected  with  the  United  States  Internal  Revenue  Bureau,  was 
engaged  in  swindling  the  Government  out  of  its  revenue  on 
whisky.  The  headquarters  of  this  ring  were  thought  to  be  in 
the  West,  with  probable  headquarters  at  Chicago  or  St.  Louis. 
Special  Agents  Somerville,  Tutton  and  Matthews  were  sent  by 
the  Internal  Revenue  Department  to  Chicago  to  make  an  inves- 
tigation, and  their  efforts  led  to  a  wholesale  seizure  of  distilleries, 
and  arrest  of  many  manufacturers  and  Government  revenue 
agents  in  the  spring  of  1875.  The  tax  on  whisky  was  at  this 
time  $2  per  gallon,  and  the  regulations  governing  its  collection 
were  not  rigidly  enforced.  The  frauds  unearthed  involved  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars,  and  were  of  national  notoriety. 
The  distilleries  seized,  and  proprietors  arrested  early  in  1875, 
were  known  as  the  "  first  batch.".  All  of  the  officials  impli- 
cated held  prominent  positions,  among  others  being  Jasper  D. 
Ward,  United  States  District  Attorney;  H.  B.  Miller,  who  was 
elected  County  Treasurer  on  the  "  People's  party"  ticket ;  A.  C. 
Hesing,  a  prominent  "  People's  party"  leader  ;  and  Jacob  Rehm, 
Chief  of  Police  under  Mayor  Colvin;  O.  B.  Dickinson,  Dr. 
Brush,  George  Burroughs  and  "Old  Man"  Powell.  These  named 
were  indicted  and  lodged  in  the  county  jail.  Among  other  in- 
dicted ones  were  Internal  Revenue  Collector  Philip  Wadsworth, 
Deputy  Collector  Chester  L.  Root,  and  a  number  of  supervisors, 
gaugers  and  minor  officials.  The  distilleries  seized  in  the  first 
batch  were  those  of  R.  C.  Merserau,  the  Union  Copper  Dis- 
tilling company,  the  Lake  Shore  Distilling  companv,  Gholson 
G.   Russell  &  Co.,  William  Cooper  &  Co.,  B.  M.  Ford  &  Co., 

(181) 


1 82  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

rectifiers.  Among  the  prominent  people  implicated  were 
Roswell  C.  Merserau,  William  S.  Golson,  Francis  A.  Eastman, 
Parker  R.  Mason,  Gholson  G.  Russell,  B.  M.  Ford,  William 
Oliver  and  George  Miller.  The  "  first  batch"  engaged  Leonard 
Swett  for  counsel  and  proposed  to  fight  the  Government,  but 
finding  that  the  great  conspiracy  was  in  a  fair  way  of  being  com- 
pletely broken  up,  they  proposed,  if  the  Government  would  grant 
them  immunity,  they  would  "squeal,"  or  turn  state's  evidence 
on  their  co-conspirators,  known  subsequently  as  the  "second 
batch."  At  this  time  Jasper  D.  Ward  was  District  Attorney, 
he  having  succeeded  Judge  J.  O.  Glover  in  the  spring  of  1875. 
Ward  was  removed  in  December  following,  and  as  stated,  was 
one  of  the  officials  indicted.  Judge  Mark  Bangs  was  appointed 
District  Attorney  December  15,  1875,  and  the  first  matter  he 
had  to  consider  was  whether  the  Government  would  be  justified 
in  granting  immunity  to  the  "  first  batch"  in  return  for  their 
evidence.  Their  proposition  was  finally  accepted,  and  the  pros- 
ecutions then  commenced.  Aside  from  the  "  first  batch"  of  dis- 
tilleries which  were  confiscated,  there  were  the  Black  Hawk  dis- 
tillery, the  Chicago  Alcohol  Works,  the  South  Branch  Distilling 
company,  Dickinson,  Leach  &  Co.,  Singer  &  Co.,  and  in  fact 
every  distillery  in  the  city  except  Shufeldt's,  besides  a  great 
many  rectifying  houses.  All  of  the  whisky  in  the  country  pro- 
duced by  these  distilleries  was  also  seized  and  confiscated.  Some 
of  the  indicted  went  to  Canada,  and  after  the  trials  were  closed 
returned  and  compromised  with  the  Government  by  paying  light 
fines.  Stamp  Clerk  Minty  was  the  only  person  implicated  who 
escaped  entirely.  He  went  to  Scotland,  where  he  is  supposed 
to  be  yet.  Collector  S.  A.  Irwin  died  of  paralysis,  brought  on 
in  a  great  measure,  his  friends  claim,  by  his  troubles.  The  dis- 
tillers had  been  on  each  other's  bonds,  and  the  Government 
brought  suit  against  them  to  recover  damages.  A.  C.  Hesing 
did  not  settle  the  judgment  then  obtained  against  him  until  1883, 
when  he  finally  effected  a  compromise.  Lawyers  and  others 
conversant  with  the  history  of  the  great  "  Whisky  ring"  main- 
tain that  the  Government  won  an  unexpected  victory  in  the 
trials  of  those  implicated,  for  the  reason  that  the  "  ring"  was  one 
of  the  best  devised  and  most  compact  ever  in  existence  ;  but,  as 
Lord  Mansfield  has  said,  "A  lack  of  confidence  among  wrong- 
doers destroys  cohesion;"  and  the  squealers  of  the  "first  batch" 
settled  the  fate  of  the  ring.  Judge  Blodgett,  of  the  United 
States  District  Court,  who  heard  the  cases,  said  that  for  some 
time  he  could   not   understand  how   Shufeldt's   distillery,  which 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  1 83 

was  not  in  the  ring,  could  make  more  money  than  any  of  the 
others,  but  he  finally  discovered  that  it  was  an  illustration  of  the 
old  adage  that  "honesty  is  the  best  policy  ;"  for  the  ringsters  had 
to  put  up  all  of  their  gains  for  protection  and  for  political  funds, 
while  Shufeldt  refused  to  be  assessed. 

THE    GREELEY    MOVEMENT. 

After  twelve  years  of  uninterrupted  victories  the  Republican 
party  was  menaced  in  1872  by  the  Greeley  or  "  Liberal  Repub- 
lican" movement.  Early  in  1870  Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the 
New  York  Tribune,  through  his  paper  advocated  with  great 
persistence  and  effect  a  more  liberal  and  lenient  policy  toward 
the  states  lately  in  rebellion.  The  Republican  party  in  Missouri, 
which  was  in  control  of  the  state,  divided  on  the  question  of 
removing  from  the  constitution  of  that  state  the  clause  which 
disfranchised  rebels,  and  the  issue  became  well  defined.  Mr. 
Greeley  had  paved  the  way  for  a  liberal  movement,  and  various 
leading  journals,  including  the  Chicago  Tribune,  had  followed 
his  lead.  In  Missouri  Carl  Schurz  and  B.  Gratz  Brown  led  the 
faction  favoring  the  abrogation  of  the  disfranchising  clause. 
Dissatisfied  Republicans,  and  leaders  of  factions  in  many  sec- 
tions, joined  in  the  Liberal  movement.  Among  those  more  prom- 
inent in  the  defection  under  the  leadership  of  tke  Tribune  in 
Chicago  were  Joseph  Medill,  William  Bross,  John  Wentworth, 
Leonard  Swett  and  Lyman  Trumbull,  and  throughout  the  state 
such  men  as  John  M.  Palmer,  Francis  A.  Hoffman,  Gustavus 
Koerner,  David  Davis,  and  all  the  Republican  state  officers  who 
made  up  Governor  Richard  Yates'  cabinet.  There  was  also  at 
this  time  a  large  unsettled  labor  element  in  the  country,  having  a 
decided  political  leaning.  A  Labor  Reform  convention  was  held 
at  Columbus,  O.,  and  Judge  David  Davis  of  Illinois  was  nomi- 
nated by  this  convention  for  the  Presidency.  His  preferment 
made  him  an  object  of  jealousy  to  the  Liberal  leaders,  and  while 
his  friends  desired  him  to  have  the  Liberal  nomination  the  oppo- 
sition was  strong  enough  to  defeat  him,  and  subsequently  he 
declined  the  Columbus  nomination.  The  Liberals  held  their 
National  convention  May  1,  1872,  at  Cincinnati,  and  nominated 
Horace  Greeley  for  President,  and  B.  Gratz  Brown  for  Vice- 
President.  The  Republican  party  met  in  Philadelphia  June  5, 
and  renominated  General  Grant  for  President,  and  Henry  Wilson 
of  Massachusetts,  for  Vice-President.  The  Democratic  party 
met  in  National  convention  at  Baltimore  July  9,  and  indorsed 
the  nominations  of  Greeley  and  Brown,  thus  creating  a  Liberal, 
Republican  and  Democratic  fusion.      A   Democratic   defection 


184  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

was  caused,  however,  by  this  action.  Mr.  Greeley's  nomination 
was  not  satisfactory  to  the  rock-rooted  or  straight-out  Democrats, 
he  having  been  an  early  Abolitionist  and  one  of  the  chief  found- 
ers of  the  Republican  party.  The  straight-out  Democrats  ac- 
cordingly called  a  convention  and  met  at  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
September  3,  and  nominated  Charles  O'Connor,  of  New  York, 
for  President,  and  John  L.  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  for  Vice- 
President.  In  Chicago  and  Illinois,  spurred  on  by  the  Trilmne, 
the  Liberals  waged  an  active  and  vigorous  contest,  and  from 
constant  claims  of  great  gains  put  forth  by  them,  and  the  uncer- 
tainty attending  the  triangular  fight,  it  was  believed  by  many  that 
the  Republican  party  was  destined  to  be  defeated.  Among  the 
electors  on  the  Greeley  ticket  were  William  Bross,  John  D. 
Caton,  Thomas  Hoyne,  C.  C.  P.  Holden  and  Amo  Voss  ;  on 
the  Grant  ticket  Henry  Greenebaum,  Chauncey  T.  Bowen,  Lester 
L.  Bond  and  Mahlon  D.  Ogden  ;  on  the  O'Connor  ticket  Isaac 
R.  Diller,  David  Runion,  Abram  Braisted  and  James  M.  Dun- 
can. The  persistent  dust-throwing  on  the  part  of  the  Liberal 
organs  did  not  blind  the  voters  to  the  real  issue  at  stake.  Be- 
sides the  bulk  of  the  Republican  party  strength,  Gen.  Grant 
received  a  large  independent  vote,  including  many  old-line  Dem- 
ocrats throughout  the  country  ;  and  when  the  returns  of  the 
election  in  Illinois  were  made  known  it  was  found  that  both  the 
Liberals  and  the  Democrats  had  been  literally  snowed  under. 
Grant  and  Wilson  received  241,944  votes  in  the  state  ;  Greeley 
and  Brown,  184,938  ;  O'Connor  and  Adams,  3,058  ;  Black,  Tem- 
perance, 5,608;  Gen.  Grant's  majority  over  all  being  53,948. 
Horace  Greeley  having  died  prior  to  the  assembly  of  the  Elec- 
toral college,  the  electoral  vote  of  the  Liberal  party  was  divided 
among  favorites,  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  receiving  42,  or  a  major- 
ity over  all  for  President,  and  B.  Gratz  Brown  47,  or  a  majority 
over  all  for  Vice-President.  The  result  on  the  more  important 
state  offices  was  as  follows :  For  Governor,  Richard  J.  Oglesby, 
Republican,  237,774  votes  ;  Gustavus  Koerner,  Liberal  Repub- 
lican, 197,084;  Lieutenant-Governor,  John  L.  Beveridge,  Repub- 
lican, 235,101  ;  John  C.  Black,  Democrat,  199,767;  Auditor,  C. 
E.  Lippincott,  Republican,  241,498;  Daniel  O'Hara,  Democrat, 
192,708  :  Attorney-General,  J.  K.  Edsall,  Republican,  240,731  : 
John  V.  Eustace,  Democrat,  191,897.  Members  of  Congress, 
Chicago  districts;  First  district,  John  B.  Rice,  Democrat,  12,- 
870;  Lucien  B.  Otis,  Republican,  7,235.  Second  district,  Jas- 
per D.  Ward,  Republican,  12,182  ;  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Dem- 
ocrat, 8,873.  Third  district,  Chas.  B.  Farwell,  Republican, 
9,202  ;    John  V.    LeMoyne,    Democrat,  4,962. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I  85 

In  1873  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  became  strongly  organ- 
ized in  Illinois,  and  exerted  great  influence  in  politics.  The 
organization  was  founded  in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1867,  and  its 
object  was  to  do  away  with  "middle  men,"  that  is,  brokers  and 
commission  agents,  and  bring  about  barter  and  trade  at  first 
hand,  besides  compelling  the  railroads  to  do  away  with  car-load 
discrimination  in  freight  rates.  General  "granges,"  as  their  clubs 
were  called,  were  organized  in  Cook  county.  The  movement 
resulted  in  the  election  of  certain  state  officers  and  a  legislature 
favorable  to  the  demands  of  the  "grangers,"  and  laws  were  passed 
relating  to  the  management  and  business  traffic  of  railroads  which 
were  decidedly  onerous  and  impractical.  James  K.  Edsall,  At- 
torney General  of  the  state,  was  instrumental  in  enforcing  much 
of  this  legislation.  After  a  fruitless  effort  to  gain  possession  of 
the  state  judiciary,  the  demagogues  who  had  allied  themselves 
with  the  movement,  ceased  to  take  active  interest  in  the  organiz- 
ation ;  the  obnoxious  laws  were  subsequently  modified,  amended 
and  repealed,  and  eventually  the  "granger"  element  was  elimi- 
nated as  a  potent  factor  from  our  politics. 

In  the  Assembly  of  1873  Daniel  Shepard,  of  Cook,  was 
elected  Clerk  of  the  House  over  Joshua  L.  Marsh,  of  Cook,  by 
a  vote  of  86  to  61.  John  L.  Beveridge,  who  had.  been  elected 
Lieutenant-Governor  in  the  fall  of  1872,  became  Governor 
through  the  elevation  of  Governor  Oglesby  to  the  United  States 
Senate.  Lyman  Trumbull  was  Governor  Oglesby's  opponent 
for  the  Senate,  but  was  defeated,  receiving  62  votes  in  joint  ses- 
sion to  84  for  Oglesby. 

The  state  and  congressional  campaign  of  1874  did  not  awa- 
ken much  interest  or  enthusiasm  in  Chicago.  The  Liberal 
Republican,  or  Greeley  party  had  ceased  to  be  a  political  factor. 
Joseph  Medill,  Governor  Bross  and  John  Wentworth  retreated 
back  to  the  Republican  fold  ;  Trumbull,  Palmer  and  Koerner  be- 
came Democrats  and  David  Davis  remained  an  Independent  in 
politics,  while  the  disturbed  rank  and  file  resumed  old  party 
affiliations.  Out  of  the  scattered  remnant  of  the  Liberal  move- 
ment was  formed  the  Anti-Monopoly  party.  The  vote  for  the 
respective  candidates  in  the  Chicago  Congressional  districts  was 
as  follows: — First  district,  Bernard  G.  Caulfield,  Dem.,  10,211  ; 
Sidney  Smith,  Rep.,  9,803  ;  Second  district,  Carter  H.  Har- 
rison, Dem.,  9,189;  Joseph  D.  Ward,  Rep.,  9,181;  Third  dis- 
trict, Charles  B.  Farwell,  Rep.,  8,177;  Jonn  V-  LeMoyne,  Dem., 
7,991  ;  Francis  A.  Hoffman,  Jr.,  139.  In  the  ensuing  General 
Assembly  of  1875  tne  Democrats  by  a  fusion  with  the  Indepen- 


1 86  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

dents  gained  a  majority  of  both  Houses.  Jere  J.  Crowley,  of 
Cook,  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  House  over  Daniel  Shepard  by  a 
vote  of  8 1  to  68.  This  Legislature  passed  the  act  for  the  re- 
organization of  cities,  under  which  Chicago  subsequently  be- 
came reorganized  as  a  municipality. 

The  Greenbackers  had  become  sufficiently  organized 
throughout  the  state  in  1873  to  ta^e  an  active  part  in  the  cam- 
paign. They  favored  action  on  the  part  of  the  government 
which  would  make  and  keep  the  paper,  or  "greenback"  money 
our  standard  of  national  currency,  and  were  opposed  to  the 
resumption  of  specie  payments.  The  party  was  made  up  of 
original  fiat,  or  paper  money  men  and  the  scattered  followers  of 
the  Liberal  and  Anti  -Monopoly  movements.  They  nominated  a 
state  ticket  and  the  party  also  had  a  national  ticket  in  the  field, 
nominated  May  17  at  Indianapolis,  with  Peter  Cooper,  of  New 
York,  for  President,  and  Samuel  F.  Cary,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice- 
President. 

The  Republican  state  convention  nominated  Shelby  M. 
Cullom  for  Governor,  Andrew  Shuman,  of  the  Chicago  Evening 
Journal,  for  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  James  K.  Edsall  for  At- 
torney General.  There  were  no  Chicago  men  on  the  Demo- 
cratic state  ticket. 

The  Republican  national  ticket,  nominated  at  Cincinnati, 
June  14,  1876,  contained  the  names  of  R.  B.  Hayes,  of  Ohio, 
for  President,  and  William  A.  Wheeler,  of  New  York  for  Vice- 
President,  and  the  Democratic  national  ticket,  nominated  at  St. 
Louis,  June  17,  the  names  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  of  New  York, 
for  President,  and  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana,  for  Vice- 
President.  At  the  outset  the  campaign  on  the  Republican  side 
was  spiritless  and  tame,  while  the  Democrats  generally  were  well 
pleased  with  their  ticket  and  entered  at  once  into  a  vigorous  and 
sustained  canvass.  The  usual  Republican  majority  in  the  state 
was  greatly  reduced.  The  vote  in  the  state  on  Lieutenant- 
Governor  was,  Andrew  Shuman,  Rep.,  278,167;  Archibald  A. 
Glenn,  Dem.,  255,970  ;  James  H.  Pickrell,  Greenback,  18,053. 
On  the  Hayes  ticket  for  electors  were  the  names  of  Peter 
Schuttler,  George  Armour  and  Louis  Schaffner,  of  Chicago  ;  on 
the  Tilden  ticket,  William  F.  Coolbaugh,  Thomas  Hoyne,  S.  S. 
Hayes,  and  Amo  Voss  ;  on  the  Cooper  ticket,  A.  J.  Grover,  A. 
C.  Cameron,  John  M.  Thompson  and  A.  J.  Streeter.  The  high- 
est vote  in  the  state  for  the  Hayes  electors  was  278,232  ;  for 
Tilden,  258,601  ;  Cooper,  18,241.  In  the  Chicago  congressional 
districts    the  vote  was  as  follows  : — First  district,   William  Aid- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  1 87 

rich,  Rep.,  16,578  ;  John  R.  Hoxie,  Dem.,  14,101  ;  George  S. 
Bowen,  Greenback,  486  ;  Second  district,  Carter  H.  Harrison, 
Dem.,  14,732  ;  George  R.  Davis,  Rep.,  14,090;  S.  F.  Norton, 
Greenback,  118;  Third  district,  Lorenz  Brentano,  Rep.,  11,722; 
John  V.  LeMoyne,  Dem.,  11,435.  The  Republicans  and  Inde- 
pendents united  and  organized  the  Thirtieth  General  Assembly 
of  1877.  Lieutenant-Governor  Shuman  entered  upan  his  duties 
as  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  January  9.  An  exciting  contest 
resulted  when  the  two  Houses  met  in  joint  session  January  18  to 
ballot  for  a  United  States  Senator.  John  M.  Palmer  was  the 
Democratic  caucus  nominee  and  John  A.  Logan  the  Republican. 
On  the  first  ballot  the  vote  stood  :  Logan,  99  ;  Palmer,  88  ; 
William  B.  Anderson  7  Senators;  David  Davis  6  Representa- 
tives. On  the  twenty-second  ballot  Gov.  Palmer's  name  was 
withdrawn  and  on  the  taking  of  the  ballot  the  result  was,  Logan, 
99  ;  W.  B.  Anderson,  85  ;  John  C.  Haines,  7  ;  William  C.  Goudy, 
7  ;  scattering,  4.  On  the  twenty-fourth  ballot  the  name  of  Gen. 
Logan  was  withdrawn,  and  on  the  ensuing  ballot  the  result  was, 
David  Davis,  97  ;  C.  B.  Lawrence,  86  ;  John  C.  Haines,  7  ;  scatter- 
ing, 8.  January  25  a  total  of  200  votes  was  cast  and  on  the 
fortieth  ballot  the  result  was,  David  Davis,  101  ;  C.  B.  Lawrence 
94  ;  John  C.  Haines,  3  ;  John  A.  Logan,  1  ;  William,  H.  Parish,  1. 

David  Davis  having  received  a  majority  of  all  votes  cast 
was  declared  the  duly  elected  Senator. 

David  Davis  not  only  witnessed  the  growth  of  Illinois  from 
a  struggling  frontier  state  to  its  present  condition,  but  he  took 
an  active  part  in  public  affairs  during  the  most  remarkable  por- 
tion of  its  political  history.  He  was  perhaps  Lincoln's  closest 
friend,  and  it  was  in  part  owing  to  his  efforts  that  Illinois  fur- 
nished the  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  i860. 
Judge  Davis,  though  not  a  delegate,  was  one  of  the  leading  men 
at  the  Decatur  State  convention  in  May,  i860,  that  elected 
delegates  to  the  Chicago  National  convention.  He  was  there 
selected  as  one  of  the  Senatorial  delegates  to  the  latter  body. 
More  than  a  week  prior  to  the  nomination  he  had,  in  connection 
with  other  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  opened  the  Lincoln  head- 
quarters at  the  Tremont  house,  Chicago,  where,  and  throughout 
the  city,  whenever  delegates  were  to  be  found,  he  labored  day 
and  night,  almost  sleeplessly,  throughout  that  long  contest,  work- 
ing with  a  zeal,  assiduity,  and  skill  never  surpassed  if  ever 
equaled.  And  when  those  labors  culminated  in  the  choice  of  his 
trusted  friend  his  feelings  so  overpowered  him  that  not  only  then, 
but  for    hours  after,  in  grasping  the    hands  of    congratulating 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


friends,  he  wept  like  a  child.  Among  Lincoln's  hosts  he  was 
emphatically  the  great  central  figure.  In  1862  Judge  Davis  was 
appointed  by  President  Lincoln  one  of  the  Associate  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  This  appointment 
was  not  made  by  any  personal  solicitation  of  Judge  Davis,  but 
simply  on  account  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  knowledge  of  the  man.  At 
the  time  of  his  appointment  he  was  well  known  in  Illinois  as  a 
man  of  great  judicial  learning  and  the  best  of  judgment,  but  his 
reputation  had  not  gone  beyond  his  state,  as  he  had  never  filled 
a  position  where  his  decisions  would  be  published.  But  when  he 
came  to  the  Supreme  Bench  of  the  United  States  his  reputation 
as  a  jurist  went  beyond  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  his 
friends.  His  opinion  in  the  Milligan  case  has  attracted  more  at- 
tention from  the  people  at  large  than  any  decision  since  that  of 
Judge  Taney  in  the  Dred  Scott  case.  Many  of  the  leaders  iden- 
tified with  the  Liberal  movement  of  1872  consider  the  defeat  of 
Judge  Davis  in  the  Cincinnati  convention  to  have  been  a  great 
mistake.  David  Davis  was  born  in  Cecil  county,  Maryland, 
March  9,  181 5.  He  was  educated  at  Newark,  Del.,  Academy,  and 
at  Kenyon  College,  Gambier,  O.,  where  he  graduated  September 
4,1832.  In  October  of  the  same  year  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
Judge  Henry  W.  Bishop,  at  Lenox,  Mass.,  and  completed  his  law 
studies  in  the  New  Haven,  Conn.,  law  school.  In  1835  he  went 
west,  locating  in  Pekin,  111.,  and  in  the  fall  of  1836  in  Blooming- 
ton,  111.,  which  place  he  made  his  home  until  his  death.  In  1840 
he  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  state  Senator,  and  was  defeated 
by  Gov.  Moore.  In  1844  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  and 
his  services  in  behalf  of  internal  improvements  were  of  great 
public  benefit.  In  1847  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Consti- 
tutional convention,  and  in  1848  elected  Judge  of  the  Eighth 
Judicial  district  without  opposition.  The  circuit  contained  an 
array  of  talent  rarely  equaled  among  the  same  number  of  lawyers. 
Judge  Logan  was  the  leader  of  the  bar,  but  following  him  closely 
were  Lincoln,  Stuart,  O.  L.  Davis,  Judge  Thornton,  the  Hon. 
O.  B.  Ficklin,  Judge  Emerson,  C.  H.  Moore,  Judge  Benedict, 
Judge  Parks,  Judge  Edwards,  and  others,  some  of  whom  have 
since  become  immortal  in  history.  Lincoln  was  the  constant 
companion  of  Judge  Davis  in  their  travels  around  the  extensive 
circuit,  and  at  the  close  of  their  journey  each  day  Lincoln  related 
those  humorous  stories  that  made  him  so  famous.  Judge  Davis 
traveled  in  a  two-horse  buggy  and  Mr.  Lincoln  rode  in  his  own 
conveyance  drawn  by  his  celebrated  horse  Buck.  The  independ- 
ence and  impartiality  displayed  by  Mr.  Davis  during  his  term  in 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I  89 

the  United  States  Senate  led  to  his  election  as  President  of  the 
Senate,  and  through  the  death  of  President  Garfield  and  the 
election  of  Chester  A.  Arthur  to  the  Presidency,  David  Davis 
became  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  Of  his  own  politi- 
cal life  he  said  this  :  "I  have  never  been  against  anybody  ;  I  have 
always  been  for  some  one.  If  the  latter  meant  that  I  must  op- 
pose a  man  it  was  from  the  fact  that  I  was  in  favor  of  his  op- 
ponent, and  when  the  campaign  was  over  my  opposition  to  him 
was  over."  In  the  closing  period  of  his  public  service  Mr.  Davis' 
course  was  calculated  to  provoke  alternately  the  ill-will  of  each 
of  the  political  parties,  and  no  higher  tribute  can  be  paid  to  him 
than  to  cite  the  fact  that  in  all  the  criticisms  thus  called  forth  no 
man  ever  questioned  the  integrity,  sincerity,  or  patriotism  of 
David  Davis.  He  died  at  Bloomington,  Saturday,  June  26,  1886, 
after  six  weeks'  illness  from  diabetes,  erysipelas  and  a  malignant 
carbuncle.  The  Bar  Association  of  Illinois  and  Indiana  and 
other  states  adopted  resolutions  of  respect,  and  eulogistic  of  his 
public  services,  and  the  records  of  many  courts  soon  bore  tran- 
scripts of  memorials.  The  funeral  obsequies  were  conducted  at 
Bloomington  Tuesday,  June  29,  and  although  his  relatives  desired 
to  avoid  all  appearance  of  pomp  or  display  the  city  was  draped 
in  black,  and  the  cortege  was  the  most  imposing  ever  witnessed 
in  Illinois  aside  from  those  of  Douglas,  Lincoln,  Garfield  and 
Grant.  Upward  of  five  hundred  of  the  most  eminent  statesmen, 
jurists  and  lawyers  in  the  country  were  in  attendance.  After  lying 
in  state  from  9  a.  m.  to  2  p.  m.  of  Tuesday,  the  remains,  accom- 
panied by  a  vast  procession,  were  reverentially  transferred  to  the 
cemetery  and  deposited  with  their  native  dust. 

In  the  state  campaign  of  1878  the  Greenback  party  again 
placed  a  ticket  in  the  field,  and  the  contest  in  Chicago  and  Cook 
county  as  elsewhere  was  a  triangular  one  but  devoid  of  great  in- 
terest. The  candidates  and  the  votes  polled  by  each  in  the 
Chicago  Congressional  districts  were  as  follows  : — First  district, 
William  Aldrich,  Rep.,  12,165  ;  James  R.  Doolittle,  Dem.,  7,136; 
William  V.  Barr,  Greenback,  1,844;  John  McAuliff,  Socialist, 
2,322.  Second  district,  George  R.  Davis,  Rep.,  10,347;  Miles 
Kehoe,  Ind.  Dem.,  6,111;  James  Felch,  Greenback,  1,600, 
George  A.  Schilling,  Socialist,  2,473;  J-  H.  Condon,  Ind.,  250; 
John  Sebolski,  Ind.  Socialist,  74.  Third  district,  Hiram  Barber, 
Rep.,  9,574;  Lambert  Tree,  Dem.,  5,280;  A.  B.  Cornell,  Green- 
back, 884  ;  Benjamin  Sibley,  Socialist,  2,306.  January  21  the 
Thirty-first  General  Assembly  of  1879  met  m  ]oint  session  and 
elected  John  A.  Logan  United  States  Senator  over  Gen.  John  C. 


IQO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Black,  the  Democratic  caucus  nominee,  by  a  vote  of  80  to  60.  Ten 
votes  were  cast  for  Alexander  Campbell,  Greenback,  and  three 
for  John  McAuliff,  Socialist.  The  Chicago  Socialists  elected  to 
this  Assembly  one  Senator,  Sylvester  Artley  and  two  Repre- 
sentatives, Leo  Meilbeck  and  Christian  Meyer.  The  Socialists 
succeeded  in  getting-  a  bill  passed  for  the  creation  of  a  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics,  and  other  labor  legislation  adopted.  John  Mc- 
Auliff was  an  engineer  by  trade  ;  an  intelligent,  well-read  man, 
and  a  popular  and  powerful  leader  among  his  followers.  He 
died  in  1882.  Leo  Meilbeck  published  a  paper  printed  in  the 
Bohemian  language  which  was  extensively  circulated  in  the  Sixth 
and  Seventh  wards.  He  had  a  hobby,  which  was  the  publication 
of  a  polyglot  paper,  to  be  printed  in  the  Bohemian, Polish, German 
and  English  laneuaees,  Dut  never  succeeded  in  carrying  out  his 
idea.  He  became  insane  and  committed  suicide  by  cutting 
his  throat  at  the  Alexian  Brothers'  Hospital  in  1883. 

MAYOR    HEATH'S    ADMINISTRATION. 

The  result  of  the  special  election  of  July  12,  1876,  was  the 
election  of  Mayor  Monroe  Heath  to  his  first,  or,  as  it  is  known, 
the  "short  term"  of  the  Mayoralty.  July  17  the  City  Council 
met  in  regular  session  and  canvassed  the  vote  with  the  following 
result  :  Monroe  Heath,  Republican,  19,248  votes  ;  Mark  Kim- 
ball, Democrat,  7,509;  J.  J.  McGrath,  Independent,  3,363. 
Heath's  plurality,  11,739;  majority,  8,376. 

Mr.  Heath  was  declared  duly  elected  Mayor  for  the. term 
ending  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  April,  1877,  and  his  official  bond, 
signed  by  Monroe  Heath,  William  F.  Milligan,  Peter  Schuttler 
and  Christoph  Hotz,  was  approved.  Charles  Tarnow  was  de- 
clared elected  Alderman  of  the  Seventh  ward  to  fill  the  vacancy 
caused  by  the  resignation  of  James  H.  Hildreth. 

The  tax  collection  bill  under  which  the  Tax  Commissioner 
and  City  Assessor  had  been  operating  having  been  declared  un- 
constitutional by  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Council  adopted  a  res- 
olution calling  on  the  Mayor  to  discharge  the  assistants  and 
employes  of  both  of  these  offices,  and  to  remove  the  chief  offi- 
cials themselves.  An  order  was  also  passed  directing  the  Board 
of  Education  to  withhold  the  construction  of  proposed  school 
buildings  and  the  Committee  on  Schools  to  report  a  list  of  all 
leases  of  school  property,  with  the  date  of  expiration  of  the 
same,  with  a  view  of  selling  a  portion  of  the  property  in  order 
to  help  the  city  out  of  its  financial  strait.  The  special  committee 
appointed  to  consult  with  architects  and  the  County  Board  in 
reference  to  the  construction    of  the  City  hall  and  Courthouse 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I9I 

was  discharged,  and  their  duties  transferred  to  the  Committee  on 
Public  Buildings,  and  the  Council  refused  to  instruct  the  City 
Attorney  to  take  steps  to  enjoin  the  county  from  proceeding 
with  its  portion  of  the  building.  The  ordinance  abolishing  the 
Board  of  Health  and  re-organizing  it  under  a  commissioner  of 
health  was  adopted,  and  the  office  of  city  physician  was  done 
away  with.  July  24  Mayor  Heath  sent  his  first  message  to  the 
Council,  of  which  the  following  is  a  synopsis  : 
"  To  the  Honorable  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago: 
"  The  financial  condition  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  in  all  its  de- 
tails and  aspects,  has  been  so  thoroughly  investigated  and  dis- 
cussed, both  by  this  Council,  the  public,  and  the  press  of  the 
city,  that  I  consider  it  unnecessary  to  again  enter  into  these  de- 
tails with  you  ;  but  in  assuming  the  position  of  Mayor  of  the 
city,  it  may  not  be  improper  that  I  should  address  to  you  in  a 
general  way  a  few  words  in  relation  to  the  matter  which  so  deeply 
concerns  our  welfare.  *  *  I  am  convinced  that  you  have 
not  studied  our  constitution  in  vain,  and  that  you  are  entering 
the  road  which  will  lead  us  in  time  out  of  our  difficulties — the 
road  of  retrenchment  and  economy.  *  *  *  We  must  in 
any  event,  and  under  all  circumstances,  supply  the  necessary 
wants  of  this  community  ;  our  people  must  be  protected  ;  and 
the  personal  safety  and  peaceful  calling  of  every  citizen  secured. 
I  see  no  good  ground,  even  after  looking  at  the  situation  from 
its  darkest  standpoint,  for  the  despondent  feeling  which  has  be- 
come fashionable  of  late  with  some  of  our  people.  We  have 
rebuilt  in  five  years  a  marvelous  city  out  of  the  ashes  and  brok- 
en fortunes  of  the  old  ;  for  years  we  have  been  carrying  on  the 
most  gigantic  system  of  public  improvements,  and  have  rivaled 
in  a  short  time  the  works  of  our  oldest  cities.  Our  unbroken 
march  of  material  prosperity  in  the  past  has  naturally  produced 
a  degree  of  recklessness  and  of  extravagance  which,  with  several 
large  defalcations  and  the  loss  or  delay  in  the  collection  of  our 
public  revenues,  by  the  failure  on  the  part  of  our  citizens  to  pay 
their  taxes,  and  the  seeming  inability  of  our  Legislature  to  make 
wise  or  legal  enactments — all  have  contributed  to  our  present 
condition.  With  our  past  experience,  and  with  a  people  alive  to 
the  great  necessity  of  watching  and  protecting  the  property  and 
rights  of  citizens  ;  with  a  better  knowledge  of  our  condition, 
and  the  absolute  necessity  to  extend  to  our  Government  a  proper 
and  enlightened  support,  I  do  not  think  we  need  look  forward  to 
a  repetition  of  the  chief  causes  of  our  present  troubles.  Can  we 
not,  then,  overcome  all  our  difficulties  ?" 


I92  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  first  appointment  made  by  Mayor  Heath  was  that  of 
Dr.  Brockholst  McVickar  as  Commissioner  of  Health,  who  was 
promptly  confirmed  by  the  Council.  Mayor  Heath,  on  the  ad- 
vice of  the  corporation  counsel,  also  vetoed  the  ordinance 
passed  by  the  Council  cutting  off  one-half  of  the  street  lamps 
from  being  lighted  at  night.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Council, 
July  26,  an  ordinance  was  passed  reducing  the  pay-roll  of  the 
Fire  Department  twenty-five  per  cent. ;  the  pay-roll  of  the  Police 
Department  the  same;  the  pay-roll  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works 
fifty  per  cent.  ;  public  library  thirty  per  cent.  ;  the  salaries  of  the 
Comptroller  and  his  clerks;  of  the  Gas  Inspector;  and  of  the 
Police  Justices  and  clerks  wrere  reduced;  and  the  offices  of  City 
Tax  Assessor  and  City  Tax  Commissioner  were  abolished.  In 
July,  1876,  charges  were  made  against  the  School  Board  of  cor- 
ruption and  malfeasance,  and  that  a  "  ring"  existed  among  the 
members  of  the  Board.  The  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the 
Council  was  directed  to  investigate  these  charges,  and  in  their 
report  made,  August  21,  the  committee  stated  that  the  charges 
were  so  vague  and  indefinite  as  to  leave  no  foundation  for  an  in- 
vestigation. Charges  similar  in  character  were  made  against  Dr. 
McVickar,  Commissioner  of  Health,  and  at  the  request  of  Mayor 
Heath  were  investigated  by  the  Committee  on  Health  and  Coun- 
ty Relations,  which  committee  in  its  report  characterized  the  re- 
ports as  not  only  untrue  but  malicious.  September  18  the  Coun- 
cil formally,  by  ordinance,  abolished  the  old  Board  of  Public 
Works  and  vested  their  rights  and  duties  in  the  Mayor  and  the 
Commissioner  of  Public  Works.  During  Mayor  Heath's  first 
term  was  carried  on  what  was  known  as  the  "sign  war."  Com- 
plaints having  been  made  that  the  ordinance  regarding  street 
obstructions  was  violated  in  hundreds  of  instances  by  the  hang- 
ing of  signs,  Mayor  Heath  ordered  all  such  obstructions  re- 
moved, and  the  police  and  fire  departments  were  instructed  to 
carry  out  the  order.  The  Council  finally  decided  to  amend  the 
ordinance,  and  the  Mayor  was  requested  to  withhold  the  removal 
of  the  signs,  but  prior  to  this  action  many  signs  had  been  re- 
moved by  posses  of  police,  and  several  street  encounters  and 
much  excitement  was  the  result.  November  13  the  Council 
adopted  a  majority  report  of  the  Committee  on  Police  recom- 
mending to  the  Mayor  the  removal  of  M.  C.  Hickey  as  Super- 
intendent of  Police.  This  report  and  recommendation  was  ig- 
nored by  Mayor  Heath,  who  had  suspended  Superintendent 
Hickey  during  investigation  of  charges  made  against  him  in  the 
Chicago  Post  of  October  23,  and  had  reinstated  him  again.    The 


CHICAGO,   COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  I93 

charges  in  question  were  involved  in  what  were  known  as  the 
Pape's  case,  the  Tierney  case,  the  "  Hoosier"  Brown  case,  the 
Lizzie  Moore  case,  the  "  horse  and  buggy"  case,  and  the  Dan 
Webster  matter,  in  all  of  which  except  two  it  was  charged  that 
Superintendent  Hickey  had  carried  on  unlawful  dealings  for 
gain  with  criminals.  In  the  "horse  and  buggy"  case  it  was 
charged  that  certain  gamblers  made  up  a  purse  to  buy  the  Sup- 
erintendent a  horse  and  buggy,  and  in  the  Dan  Webster  matter 
that  Superintendent  Hickey  leased  a  house  to  Webster,  a  cele- 
brated colored  character,  and  divided  unlawful  gains  with  him. 
In  a  communication  to  the  Council  November  27,  Mayor  Heath 
said  he  had  attended  the  investigation  and  sifted  all  of  the  charges 
and  was  surprised  at  the  report  made  by  the  committee.  He 
had  no  doubt  of  Superintendent  Hickey's  honesty  and  efficiency, 
and  believed  it  would  be  a  great  wrong  and  a  false  step  to  change 
the  head  of  the  police  force  at  that  time.  Notwithstanding 
Mayor  Heath's  explanation  and  indorsement  of  Superintendent 
Hickey  the  Council  concurred  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Police  recommending  his  removal,  by  a  vote  of  22  ayes  to  8  nays. 
A  special  meeting  of  the  Council  was  held  December  14,  to  take 
action  on  the  death  of  Aid.  David  Murphy,  at  which  suitable 
resolutions  were  adopted  and  addresses  were  made  by  Aids. 
Sweeney,  Ryan,  Stewart,  McCrea,  Lawler  and  Throop.  Jan- 
uary 9,  1877,  the  Council  was  again  called  upon  to  take  action 
on  the  death  of  a  deceased  member — Aid.  Mark  Sheridan.  Res- 
olutions were  adopted  and  addresses  made  by  Aids.  Sommer, 
Ryan,  Lawler,  Sweeney,  Cullerton  and  Gilbert.  March  27,  1877, 
Mayor  Heath  vetoed  an  ordinance  allowing  the  North,  West  and 
South  Town  Collectors  to  retain  one  per  cent,  of  their  collec- 
tions as  compensation  for  collecting  the  city  taxes,  giving  as  his 
reason  that  the  compensation  of  the  town  collectors  was  fixed 
by  statute,  and  that  by  virtue  of  the  general  revenue  law  of 
the  state  the  city  taxes  were  extended  on  the  books  of  the  Col- 
lector the  same  as  state  and  county  taxes.  Under  the  provisions 
of  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  changing  the  time  of  holding  city 
and  town  elections,  approved  March  9,  1877,  the  Council,  on 
March  12,  passed  an  ordinance  re-districting  the  city  into  new 
election  precincts.  March  22,  1877,  the  Council  passed  an  ordi- 
nance ordering  a  tax  levy  of  $4,012,002.29,  to  cover  the  appro- 
priations made  for  corporate  purposes  for  the  current  fiscal  year. 
Under  the  new  city  charter,  foreign  insurance  companies  were 
obliged  to  pay  into  the  city  treasury  a  tax  of  two  per  cent,  on 
their  premiums.  A  bill  was  presented  to  the  General  Assembly 
13 


194  POLITICS  AND   POLITICIANS, 

providing  that  the  funds  from  this  source  should  be  expended  in 
maintaining  a  fire  insurance  patrol,  and  April  8  the  Council 
adopted  a  resolution  protesting  against  the  adoption  of  the  bill 
as  inimical  to  the  best  interests  of  the  city,  and  requesting  the 
Mayor  to  urge  Senators  and  Representatives  to  exert  themselves 
to  defeat  it.  April  9  the  Council,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  adopted 
the  following  resolutions  of  thanks  to  the  Hon.  Thomas  Hoyne: 

Whereas,  The  citizens  of  Chicago  believe  that  the  present 
Council  have  been  honest  and  economical,  and  have  reduced  tax- 
ation; 

Resolved,  That  to  Thomas  Hoyne,  our  excellent  Mayor, 
de  facto,  for  the  month  of  May  last,  belongs  the  credit  of  starting 
our  municipal  reform. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  Hon.  Thomas  Hoyne  our 
thanks  for  the  bold  and  statesman-like  inaugural  address  deliv- 
ered before  us,  and  believe  that  the  sentiments  therein  contained 
have  tended  to  guide  this  Council  in  measures  of  reform,  and 
while  we  are  not  able  legally  to  return  to  him  a  compensation  in 
money  for  his  good  advice,  we  do  tender  to  him  our  sincere 
thanks  as  members  of  this  Common  Council. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  placed  on  the 
records. 

Among  other  important  appointments  made  by  Mayor 
Heath  during  the  "short  term"  were  L.  D.  Cleveland,  Superin- 
tendent of  Buildings  ;  H.  P.  Wright,  Health  Commissioner,  vice 
Dr.  Brockholst  McVickar  resigned,  and  Oscar  C.  DeWolf,  vice 
H.  P.  Wright,  resigned  ;  Adam  Graham,  City  Weigher  ;  W.  H. 
Heafford,  City  Collector;  H.  J.  Jones,  Examiner  of  Subdivi- 
sions, and  J.  F.  Stafford,  Oil  Inspector. 

Tuesday,  April  3,  1877,  the  first  election  for  Mayor  under 
the  new  law  changing  the  time  of  election  from  fall  to  spring 
was  held,  and  Monroe  Heath  was  re-elected  Mayor  for  the  en- 
suing two  years.  The  following  are  the  totals  of  the  official 
vote  as  canvassed  by  the  Council  : — Mayor  Monroe  Heath, 
(Rep.),  30,881.  Perry  H.  Smith  (Dem.),  19,449.  City  Treas- 
urer, Charles  R.  Larrabee  (Rep.),  26,509.  Clinton  Briggs 
{Dem.),  23,929.  City  Attorney,  Richard  S.  Tuthill  (Rep.),  28,- 
186.  William  J.  Hynes  (Dem.),  22,219.  City  Clerk,  Caspar 
Butz,  28,496  ;  Rudolph  Ruhbaum,  21,538. 

At  the- meeting  of  the  Council  April  30,  1877,  Aid.  Aldrich 
was  called  to  the  chair  and  Aid.  Throop  presented  the  following 
resolutions,  which  were  adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote : 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Council  are  due  and  are 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I95 

hereby  tendered  to  Aid.  William  Aldrich  for  the  able  and  im- 
partial manner  in  which  he  so  often  presided  over  the  delibera- 
tions of  this  body  ;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  while  we  are  sorry  to  lose  his  valuable  ser- 
vices as  a  member  of  this  Council  in  the  future,  we  are  glad  to 
know  that  he  has  been  transferred  to  a  higher  sphere  of  useful- 
ness in  the  halls  of  the  national  Congress,  where  he  will  doubt- 
less also  distinguish  himself  as  a  champion  of  true  reform,  and 
our  best  wishes  for  his  success  go  with  him. 

Mr.  Aldrich  ably  represented  his  district  two  terms  in  Con- 
gress.     His  death  occurred  in  the  spring  of  1886. 

In  his  second  inaugural  message  Mayor  Heath  counseled  a 
continuance  of  the  programme  of  retrenchment  and  economy 
inaugurated  by  the  preceding  Council.  In  reference  to  the 
City's  finances  he  stated  that  the  uncollected  taxes  April  1,  1876, 
amounted  to  $7,344,294.75,  to  which  should  be  added  the  full 
amount  of  the  appropriation  for  1876,  which  was  $4,045,529.27. 
Of  the  amounts  outstanding  April  1,  1876,  $290,591.1 1  embraced 
taxes  for  the  years  1869  and  1870.  The  tax  warrants  for  these 
years  having  been  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  1871,  these  bal- 
ances were  partially  uncollectable,  and  had  been,  during  the  year, 
charged  off.  The  uncollected  taxes  April  1,  1877,  amounted  to 
$6,903,716.35.      The  message  proceeded: 

In  addition  to  this  amount  there  is  to  be  added  the 
appropriation  of  March  1,  1877,  amounting  to  $4,012,002.29, 
the  warrants  of  which  will  not  be  delivered  to  the  col- 
lectors till  December  next.  *  *  *  A  great  portion  of  the 
appropriation  for  1876  covered  a  period  of  only  nine  months, 
while  that  of  1877,  which  is  $33,523.98  less  than  1876,  covers  a 
full  year,  and  includes  the  large  amount  of  $301,087.50  for  sewer- 
age, as  compared  with  $16,000  in  1876.  *  *  The  saving  in 
1877  over  1875  is  $1,1 1 1,403,  or  over  21  per  cent.  On  the  1st  of 
April,  1876,  there  were  outstanding  certificates  of  indebtedness 
amounting  to  $3,484,856.81.  This  amount  has  been  reduced  to 
$956,114.89.  To  this  amount  should  be  added  $150,000  of  the 
new  form  of  revenue  warrants  issued  May  4,  1876,  by  the  previ- 
ous administration,  to  retire  the  same  amount  of  old  certificates. 
Revenue  time  warrants,  based  on  the  several  tax  levies,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  decision  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  county, 
as  announced  by  Judge  McAllister,  have  been  issued  and  deliv- 
ered during  the  year  as  follows  : 

On  the  levy  of  1875^5 10,458. 34,  of  which  there  has  been 
redeemed,  $305,065.75  ;    leaving  a  balance  outstanding  of  $205,- 


]g6  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

392.59.  On  the  levy  of  1876  $2,609,666.89,  on  which  there  has 
been  redeemed  $309,181.37,  leaving  a  balance  outstanding  of 
$2,300,485.52  ;  on  the  levy  of  1877  $339,900.00  ;  total  certificates 
and  warrants  outstanding  April  1,  1877,  were  as  follows: 

Old  certificates  of  indebtedness  issued  prior  to  April  1,  1876, 
$956,114.89;  new  revenue  warrants  on  tax  levy  of  1875,  $205,- 
392.59  ;  new  revenue  warrants  on  tax  levy  of  1876,  $2,300,485.- 
52;  new  revenue  warrants  on  tax  levy  of  1877,  $339,900.00; 
total  $3,801,893.00  ;  the  bonded  debt  of  the  city  is  as  follows  : 

Six  per  cent,  bonds  $1,200,000  ;  seven  per  cent,  bonds,  $12- 
254,000;  total  April  1,  1877,  $13A54->°°°-  Of  this  amount  $272- 
000  in  six  per  cent,  water  loan  bonds  mature  July  1,  1877.  The 
total  amount  of  old  certificates  and  new  warrants  outstanding 
April  1,  1877,  nas  Deen  reduced  $270,000  since  that  time,  and 
further  reductions  are  being  made  from  receipts  from  taxes  as 
opportunity  offers.  The  remarkable  growth  of  confidence  in 
Chicago  securities  during  the  past  year  is  shown  in  the  fact  that 
past  due  seven  percent,  paper  issued  by  a  previous  administra- 
tion has  lately  sold  at  a  premium  in  New  York,  while  our  own 
bankers  and  business  men  have  offered  us  several  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  at  seven  percent.,  which  has  been  declined  for  the 
present.  Only  nine  months  ago  the  Finance  Committee,  Comp- 
troller and  Mayor  were  compelled  to  beg  for  funds  while  offer- 
ing interest  at  eight  per  cent,  per  annum.  The  reason  for  this 
change  is  principally  due  to  the  fact  that  the  revenues  of  the 
city  have  been  collected  thoroughly,  and  the  expenses  reduced  in- 
side our  income.  The  message  showed  that  at  the  end  of  the 
preceding  fiscal  year  the  enrollment  of  school  children  was  40- 
805,  and  that  during  the  year  it  grew  to  43,512,  showing  an  in- 
crease nearly  equivalent  to  the  capacity  of  four  twelve  room 
buildings.  There  had  been  appropriated  for  sites  and  buildings 
$420,500,  but  nothing  had  been  done,  owing  to  the  failure  of  the 
city  to  collect  taxes,  especially  the  levies  of  1873  and  1874.  The 
amount  of  reductions  and  savings  in  salaries  in  the  Department 
of  Public  Works  had  been  $92,500  and  corresponding  reductions 
in  the  expenses  of  the  Police,  Fire,  Health  and  Buildings  Depart- 
ments, and  in  the  matter  of  payments  for  gas  consumed  by  the 
city  the  savings  were  over  $300,000. 

The  Council  approved  the  official  bond  of  Charles  R.  Lar- 
rabee,  City  Treasurer,  in  the  penal  sum  of  $5,500,000,  the  sure- 
ties being  Charles  R.  Larrabee,  William  F.  Coolbaugh,  Heman 
G.  Powers,  Calvin  T.  Wheeler,  John  V.  Farwell,  Asa  Dow, 
James  W.  Odell,  Berthold   Loewenthal,  Augustus   Bauer,  Thos. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  K)J 

Lynch,  Henry  A.  Kohn,  Michael  Brand,  Charles  H.  Schwab, 
William  N.  Brainard,  Orson  Smith,  Augustus  S.  Burt,  Benjamin 
P.  Hutchinson  and  Charles  L.  Hutchinson. 

Among  the  earlier;  appointments  made  by  Mayor  Heath 
during  his  second  term  were  Joseph  F.  Bonfield  as  Corporation 
Counsel ;  A.  L.  Linscott,  Prosecuting  Attorney  ;  Emory  Cole, 
Oil  Inspector;  A.  L.  Morrison,  Police  Justice;  Messrs.  J.  L. 
Dennis,  Philip  A.  Hoyne,  E.  G.  Keith,  C.  H.  Reed,  M.  E.  Stone 
and  William  Vocke,  as  members  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and 
Messrs.  George  Mason,  Sidney  Smith  and  J.  B.  Walker  as  Di- 
rectors of  the  Public  Library,  May  14,  1877,  Aid.  Ballard  pre- 
sented to  the  Council  a  resolution  relative  to  the  death  of  Arte- 
mas  Carter,  formerly  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  it  was  unani- 
mously adopted,  as  follows  : 

Whereas,  In  the  wisdom  of  Almighty  God  He  has  seen 
best  to  remove  from  among  the  living  one  of  our  most  excellent 
and  worthy  citizens,  Artemas  Carter,  who  was  an  honorable 
member  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  Chicago  during 
the  years  1857,  1858,  1859  an<^  i860,  his  record  stands  before  us 
for  an  example,  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  sympathies  of  this  Council  be  extended 
to  his  bereaved  family  who  have  so  unexpectedly  and  so  suddenly 
lost  a  father,  a  husband  and  counselor,  and  that  a  copy  of  these 
resolutions  be  sent  to  the  family. 

During  the  month  of  July  the  Council  was  called  upon 
to  take  action  in  reference  to  the  lawless  action  of  street  mobs, 
which  were  created  by  the  great  labor  strikes,  and  they  did  so 
by  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  deprecating  lawlessness,  and 
authorizing  the  Mayor  to  employ  all  means  necessary  to  maintain 
the  law.  These  riots  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  labor  troubles 
that  disturbed  the  country  throughout  at  that  time.  So  bold 
did  the  turbulent  element  become  that  they  attempted  to  march 
a  mob  upon  the  city  from  the  lumber  district.  The  mob  was 
charged  by  the  militia  and  police  at  Halsted  street  viaduct  and  a 
pitched  battle  was  fought,  resulting  in  the  killing  and  wounding 
of  many  of  the  rioters.  A  detachment  of  regular  troops  was 
sent  to  the  city  from  the  West,  with  a  Gatling  gun  ;  the  armories 
were  under  guard,  and  for  a  time  the  city  wore  a  decidedly  war- 
like appearance.  The  Council  subsequently  passed  a  resolution 
of  thanks  to  the  police  force  for  valorous  conduct  during  the 
riots.  A  contest  of  authority  regarding  the  disposition  of  the 
militia  during  the  riots  having  arisen  between  the  Mayor  and 
Gen.  Ducat,  the  Council  by  resolution  authorized   the  appoint- 


I98  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ment  of  a  committee  to  investigate  the  matter  and  determine  in 
whom  the  authority  was  vested  in  time  of  emergency.  In  re- 
sponse to  the  public  demand  efforts  were  made  to  increase  the 
police  force  at  an  additional  expense  of  $110,500  per  annum,  an 
ordinance  finally  being  passed  authorizing  the  Mayor  and  Fi- 
nance Committee  to  borrow  the  money  and  increase  the  force 
by  the  addition  of  one  hundred  mounted  patrolmen.  The  cost 
of  the  riots  to  the  city  for  pay  of  special  police,  purchase  of  arms, 
etc.,  was  about  $20,000. 

August  13  by  resolution  of  the  Council  the  chairman  ap- 
pointed a  committee'composed  of  Aids.  Stewart,  Waldo,  Linsen- 
barth,  Beidler  and  Thompson  to  investigate  the  charge  made  in 
a  city  paper  that  Aid.  Rosenberg,  a  member  of  the  Finance 
Committee,  and  the  City  Treasurer  were  in  a  "ring"  which  was 
speculating  in  city  certificates.  This  committee  subsequently 
exonerated  Aid.  Rosenberg,  the  Finance  Committee,  and  the 
Treasurer. 

The  election  to  the  Council  of  James  H.  Hildreth  as  Al- 
derman from  the  Seventh  ward  was  contested  by  John  Riordan, 
and  a  notable  contest  case  ensued.  The  returns  gave  Hildreth 
1,159  votes;  Riordan,  1,134;  Gardner,  736.  The  Committee 
on  Elections  added  certain  votes  from  the  town  boxes  to  these 
totals,  and  threw  out  certain  alleged  illegal  votes  and  declared  Rior- 
dan elected  by  44  majority,  and  entitled  to  the  seat.  The  contest 
continued  during  1877  and  1878.  Hildreth  brought  mandamus 
proceedings  against  the  Council  and  failed  to  secure  his  seat 
thereby,  Judge  Rogers  dismissing  the  appeal.  He  then  carried 
his  case  to  the  Supreme  Court  where  the  appeal  was  again  dis- 
missed, and  he  met  with  similar  disappointment  in  the  Appellate 
Court,  whence  the  case  was  taken  on  a  writ  of  error.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  Committee  on  Elections  of  the  Coun- 
cil had  declared  John  Riordan  entitled  to  the  seat,  the  report 
was  placed  on  file  by  vote  of  the  Council,  and  Riordan  did  not 
succeed  in  getting  a  seat  in  the  body  until  April  22,  1878,  when 
he  was  admitted,  together  with  John  McNally,  a  special  election 
having  been  called  for  one  alderman  to  fill  the  vacancy,  besides 
the  regular  election  of  an  alderman  to  fill  an  expired  term. 

The  City  Council  held  a  special  meeting  October  15,  to 
take  action  on  the  death  of  Daniel  O'Hara,  Ex-City  Treasurer. 
The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

Whereas,  Death  having  removed  from  our  midst  our  es- 
teemed citizen  and  faithful  public  officer,  Daniel  O'Hara,  Esq.;  and 

Whereas,  He  has  proved  one  of  the  most  efficient  and  hon- 
orable public  servants  ; 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  I99 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Council  tender  to  the  bereaved  fam- 
ily its  heartfelt  sympathy  in  its  distress  and  affliction,  and  direct 
that  these  resolutions  of  respect  and  condolence  be  promulgated 
to  the  various  departments  of  the  city  government,  and  that  all 
city  offices  be  closed  for  this  day. 

Resolved,  That  the  Council,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  late 
Daniel  O'Hara,  do  attend  his  funeral  in  a  body. 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Clerk  is  hereby  directed  to  spread 
upon  the  journal  of  the  Council  the  foregoing  resolutions,  and 
that  copies  thereof  be  furnished  the  press  for  publication,  and 
also  that  a  copy  be  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Alderman  J.  H.  B.  Daly  addressed  the  Council  as  follows  : 

"The  sad  duty  we  have  to  perform  to-day  of  paying  our  last 
compliments  to  an  honest  and  efficient  officer  of  the  city  govern- 
ment is  the  object  of  this  special  meeting.  The  resolution  does 
but  lightly  touch  on  the  virtues  of  the  man  and  the  characteris- 
tics that  entitle  him  to  the  highest  honors  we  can  now  pay  him. 
Having  been  acquainted  with  him  since  my  boyhood,  and  know- 
ing a  thousand  instances  of  his  kindness  of  heart,  honesty  of 
purpose,  and  purity  of  motives,  his  love  for  the  truth,  and  all 
the  qualities  that  the  best  teachers  of  morals  and  religion  wish 
to  have  inculcated  in  the  hearts  of  men,  I  wish  to  -mingle  my  re- 
grets at  his  loss,  with  the  hope  that  his  exemplary  qualities  will 
have  the  effect  to  elevate  and  encourage  those  who  live  to  respect 
his  memory.  I  am  personally  aware  that  it  was  his  pride  and 
pleasure  to  assist  the  afflicted,  to  encourage  the  depressed,  to 
visit  the  poor,  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  men  the  importance 
of  industry  and  the  sterling  value  of  integrity;  and  of  him  can 
be  said  as  truthfully  as  if  Goldsmith's  lines  had  been  purposely 
directed  toward  him : 

"'To  relieve  the  wretched  was  his  pride, 
And  all  his  failings  leaned  to  virtue's  side.' 

"May  his  good  soul  rest  in  peace." 

December  20,  1877,  tue  Finance  Committee  reported  on  the 
claim  of  W.  W.  Boyington  and  others,  architects  appointed  by 
Mayor  Colvin  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  Custom 
House.  Corporation  Counsel  Bonfield  at  the  same  time  sub- 
mitted an  opinion  in  which  a  number  of  court  decisions  were  cited 
to  show  that  money  could  not  be  paid  out  except  for  corporate 
purposes.  The  Finance  Committee  reported  that  while  they 
were  satisfied  that  the  city  had  no  power  to  audit  and  pay  the 
claim,  they  were  also  satisfied  that  the  services  of  the  gentlemen 
were  of  great  benefit  to  the  government  of  the    United  States, 


200  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

and  had  saved  millions  of  dollars  to  the  government  by  showing 
there  was  no  necessity  for  tearing  down  the  Custom  House,  and 
the  committee  recommended  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  setting 
forth  that  in  their  estimation  the  commission  of  architects  had  a 
just  and  proper  claim  for  compensation  against  the  government. 
Mayor  Heath,  on  February  n,  1878,  sent  a  communication 
to  the  Council  calling  attention  to  a  grave  emergency  arising 
under  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  a  test  case,  which, 
with  five  other  similar  cases,  were  appeals  perfected  from  the 
judgment  of  the  County  Court,  for  state,  county,  city  and  other 
taxes  of  the  city,  of  the  levy  of  1875.  The  appropriation  ordi- 
nance of  the  city  of  Chicago,  passed  June  30,  1875,  upon  which 
the  levy  ordinance,  approved  August  10,  1875,  levying  the  taxes 
for  that  year,  was  based,  contained  the  following  items  :  For  enter- 
taining official  visitors,  $2,000;  for  interest  on  temporary  loans 
for  Board  of  Public  Works'  appropriation  fund,  $40,000;  for  in- 
terest on  temporary  loans  for  Fire  Department,  $25,000;  for 
payment  of  interest  on  the  general  bonded  debt  of  the  city,  and 
on  temporary  loans,  in  addition  to  the  unexpended  balance, 
April  1,  1875,  and  to  amounts  received  for  interest,  $300,000;  for 
interest  on  temporary  loans  for  Police  Department,  $25,000;  the 
total  levy  for  interest  on  temporary  loans  being  $160,000.  The 
majority  of  the  Court  held  that  the  items  specified  were  illegal 
and  void.  Mayor  Heath,  in  his  communication,  said  that  while 
the  amount  of  taxes  directly  lost  by  virtue  of  this  decision  was 
comparatively  small,  being  but  $38,918.70  for  the  years  1873, 
1874  and  1875,  tne  principal  effect  of  the  decision  was,  first,  to 
declare  wholly  illegal  and  void  as  a  corporate  debt  the  outstand- 
ing certificates  issued  on  appropriations  made  previous  to  the 
fiscal  year  1876,  and  which  amounted  to  $485,513.06;  and  sec- 
ond, to  practically,  if  not  legally,  prevent  the  city  from  there- 
after anticipating  the  collection  of  its  revenues  for  the  payment 
of  corporate  debts,  by  the  issuance  and  sale  of  certificates  paya- 
ble out  of  any  particular  fund  of  the  annual  appropriation  bill. 
The  message  continued  :  The  $485,513.06  of  outstanding  certifi- 
cates declared  void  by  virtue  of  this  decision  were  wholly  drawn 
upon  the  tax  levy  of  1875  and  previous  years.  The  outstanding 
and  uncollected  taxes  of  the  year  1875  are  $760,740;  for  1874, 
$1,345,860;  for  1873,  $604,857.  There  can  be  no  reason- 
able doubt  that  a  sufficient  amount  of  these  back  taxes  will 
before  long  be  collected  to  retire  these  certificates.  I  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  city  of  Chicago  will  not  repudiate  any  of 
these  just  obligations,  the  city  having  received  the  money  from 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  201 

the  holders  of  these  certificates  in  good  faith  and  used  it  for 
corporate  purposes,  and  that  the  levy  of  the  respective  years 
for  which  they  are  drawn  will  and  must  be  applied  when  collected 
to  the  payment  thereof.  *  *  *  The  most  serious  question 
for  your  consideration,  however,  which  this  decision  forces  upon 
you  is  that  of  providing  ways  and  means  to  carry  on  the  city 
government  hereafter.  We  must  not  deceive  ourselves  as  to  our 
attitude  to-day  before  the  commercial  world  ;  we  are  in  a  legal 
sense  without  credit ;  we  cannot  on  a  purely  commercial  basis 
borrow  a  dollar — at  least  at  rates  which  we  would  consider  for  a 
moment.  *  *  *  The  system  of  carrying  on  our  govern- 
ment by  funds  procured  from  the  issue  and  sale  of  certificates 
based  upon  an  appropriation  and  tax  levy  in  advance  of  the  col- 
lection of  the  tax  must  be  abandoned  under  the  present  condition 
of  things.  *  *  *  You  should  provide  in  the  annual  appropria- 
tion bill  a  sufficient  fund  in  excess  of  the  expenditures,  after  having 
reduced  them  to  the  lowest  possible  minimum,  which  would  in  the 
course  of  two,  three  or  more  years  leave  in  the  treasury  an  amount 
which  would,  if  all  the  taxes  were  collected,  be  used  to  pay  as 
you  contract  current  obligations,  and  thus  avoid  the  necessity  of 
anticipating  in  any  form  the  tax  levy  of  the  then  current  year. 
If  such  a  course  is  considered  wise  under  the  circumstances,  the 
Council  may  direct  by  resolution,  in  order  to  provide  for  contin- 
gencies and  loss  of  revenue,  that  the  city  expenditures  must  be 
confined  to  60  or  70  per  cent,  of  the  appropriation,  and  I  will  see 
that  during  my  term  of  office  no  more  than  such  stipulated  per- 
centage is  spent. 

The  Council  at  this  same  meeting  directed  the  City  Comp- 
troller to  furnish  at  the  next  regular  meeting  the  names  of  all 
tax-fighters  who  had  refused  to  pay  their  taxes  for  the  years  1873, 
1874  and  1875.  This  list  was  duly  prepared  and  submitted.  It 
contained  the  names  of  415  citizens,  many  of  them  among  the 
wealthiest  property  owners  in  the  city.  In  pursuance  of  the 
general  line  of  economy  and  retrenchment  Mayor  Heath  early 
in  March  proposed  to  issue  an  order  for  the  reduction  of  the  Fire 
and  Police  Departments,  and  this  order  led  to  the  calling  of  a 
special  meeting  of  the  Council,  March  14,  at  which  a  resolution 
was  adopted  directing  him  to  withhold  any  order  tending  toward 
the  proposed  reduction.  March  25  the  Council  passed  an  ordi- 
nance for  the  assessment  of  the  taxes  for  the  fiscal  year  1878,  in 
which  the  amount  to  be  raised  by  the  levy  was  fixed  at  $3,777,- 
757.23,  being  the  sum  required  to  cover  the  appropriations  there- 
tofore legally  made. 


202  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

The  meeting  of  the  City  Council  of  April  20,  1878,  ushered 
in  the  last  year  of  Mayor  Heath's  term,  as  well  as  the  close  of 
the  term  of  one-half  of  the  members  of  the  Reform  Council 
which  had  co-operated  with  Mayor  Heath  in  his  financial  policy 
and  measures  of  economy.  Before  the  roll  of  the  new  Council 
was  called,  Aid.  Cook,  who  had  been  selected  the  previous  year 
to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the  Council  in  the  absence 
of  the  Mayor,  addressed  the  body,  making  use  of  the  following 
language  : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Council: — One  year  in  the  history  of 
our  city  has  passed  since  we,  preferred  as  the  choice  of  the  citizens 
of  the  various  wards  we  represent,  were  inducted  into  office  as 
legislators  to  make  such  laws  as  might  be  deemed  necessary  to 
guard  the  interests  of  the  municipality.  Whether  we  have  ful- 
filled the  expectations  of  our  constituents  in  the  exercise  of  our 
trusts,  they  have  had,  and  will  have,  to  decide.  Whether  the  re- 
sult of  our  deliberations  will  eventually  prove  for  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  municipality,  our  history  alone  will  demonstrate,  but 
I  have  no  doubt  each  member  has  done  that  which  in  his  best 
judgment  he  thought  at  the  time  was  for  the  best  interest  of  the 
city." 

May  13,  1878,  Aid.  J.  H.  B.  Daly  presented  the  following 
preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

Whereas,  Gen.  James  Shields,  who  commanded  the  Illinois 
troops  in  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  who  subsequently  represented 
this  State  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  has  arrived  in  this 
city,  and  has  been  welcomed  by  the  military  of  Chicago  and  by 
the  citizens  generally  ; 

Resolved,  That  the  Mayor  and  City  Council  extend  a  hearty 
greeting  to  him.  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  our  city,  and  cor- 
dially indorse  the  enthusiastic  reception  with  which  he  was 
greeted  on  his  arrival. 

Resolved,  That  the  distinguished  patriotic  services  rendered 
by  the  gallant  old  veteran  in  two  wars;  the  wounds  that  he  re- 
ceived in  various  battles  while  defending  the  flag  and  vindicating 
the  honor  of  the  country  ;  his  eminent  services  in  many  high 
positions  of  public  trust ;  the  untarnished  honesty  of  character 
and  the  elevated  patriotism  which  has  marked  his  entire  public 
career,  justly  entitle  him  to  the  respect  and  the  gratitude  of  the 
American  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  heartily  indorse  the  purpose  of  the  bill 
now  pending  before  the  United  States  Senate,  which  provides 
for  the  restoration   of  Gen.  Shields   to   the  army  rolls  with  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  203 

rank  of  Brigadier-General  on  the  retired  list ;  and  we  trust  that 
this  measure  of  justice  will  pass  that  body,  as  it  already  has  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  will  then  receive  the  approval  of 
the  President.  This  act  will  be  a  graceful  and  fitting  recognition 
and  reward  for  the  fidelity  and  valor  of  the  old  statesman  and 
soldier  whose  honorable  services,  whose  many  wounds,  and  whose 
age  and  circumstances  plead  more  eloquently  than  words  in  his 
behalf. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  transmitted  to 
Gen.  Shields,  and  the  same  be  likewise  forwarded  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate  with  the  request  that  the  same  be  laid  before 
that  body. 

May  27  the  Council  adopted  the  following  resolution  of 
respect  to  the  memory  of  Aid.  John  T.  Corcoran,  deceased  : 

Whereas,  It  has  pleased  the  Almighty,  in  his  wisdom,  to 
remove  from  our  midst  John  T.  Corcoran,  a  former  member  of 
the  City  Council  and  a  man  highly  esteemed  both  as  a  public 
officer  and  a  fellow  citizen  by  all  who  knew  him  ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Council  hereby  tenders  the  bereaved 
family  of  the  deceased  gentleman  its  deep  sympathy  in  their  be- 
reavement and  distress,  and  at  the  same  time  expresses  its  sor- 
row over  the  death  of  a  noble-hearted  fellow  citizen  who  has 
been  taken  away  while  in  the  prime  of  life. 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Clerk  be  and  he  is  hereby  directed 
to  spread  upon  the  journal  of  the  Council  the  foregoing  pream- 
ble and  resolutions,  and  that  a  copy  thereof  be  furnished  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Council  was  called  for  June  6,  to 
take  action  on  the  death  of  Mancel  Talcott,  and  the  following 
resolutions  were  adopted  : 

We,  the  members  of  the  City  Council  of  the  city  of  Chica- 
go, being  assembled  to  express  our  regret  for  the  death  of  Man- 
cel Talcott,  formerly  member  of  this  Council  and  President  of 
the  Board  of  Police,  and  to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory, 
do  hereby 

Resolve,  That  in  the  death  of  Mancel  Talcott  the  city  has 
lost  one  of  its  oldest  and  most  valued  citizens — a  landmark  in 
its  history — who,  while  serving  it  was  most  faithful  to  its  interests, 
and  a  determined  foe  to  all  dishonesty  and  municipal  corruption. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  deceased  we  recognize  one  who  has 
grown  up  with  our  city  and  has  stood  by  it  with  unflinching  in- 
tegrity, through  prosperity  and  adversity,  one  who  never  "gave 
out  an  uncertain  sound,"  but  who  was  marked  for  his  individual- 
ity, candor,  honesty  and  liberality. 


204  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  deepest  sympathies  to  the 
widow  and  family  of  the  deceased  in  their  great  affliction,  and  that 
a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  them. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  City  Council  will  attend 
the  funeral  of  the  deceased  in  a  body. 

Aids.  Daly,  Cook,  Phelps,  Ballard,  and  McCaffrey  were  ap- 
pointed as  a  committee  to  make  arrangements  for  the  Council 
to  attend  the  funeral. 

June  24  Mayor  Heath  sent  to  the  Council  the  names  of 
John  A.  Farwell  for  City  Comptroller,  Joseph  F.  Bonfield  for 
Corporation  Counsel,  A.  N.  Linscott  for  Prosecuting  Attorney, 
Michael  C.  Hickey  for  General  Superintendent  of  Police,  Joseph 
H.  Dixon  for  Deputy  Superintendent  of  Police,  Louis  Wahl, 
John  C.  Haines,  and  Charles  G.  Hammond  for  Inspectors  of  the 
House  of  Correction,  Matthias  Benner  for  Fire  Marshal,  W.  H. 
Heafford  for  City  Collector,  L.  D.  Cleveland  for  Superinten- 
dent of  Buildings,  F.  Bensinger  for  Sealer  of  Weights  and  Meas- 
ures, Emory  Cole  for  Oil  Inspector,  Dr.  W.  P.  Dunne  for  City 
Physician,  John  D.  Murphy  for  Inspector  of  Steam  Boilers,  Dr. 
Siebel  for  Gas  Inspector,  and  James  L.  Allen,  W.  J.  English,  D. 
A.  Kohn,  George  B.  Armstrong,  and  Thomas  Brennan  for  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  of  Education.  The  names  of  Messrs.  Allen 
and  Kohn  were  subsequently  withdrawn.  The  other  appoint- 
ments were  all  confirmed  with  the  exception  of  M.  C.  Hickey, 
John  C.  Haines  and  F.  Bensinger.  The  Committee  on  Police, 
to  whom  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Hickey  was  referred,  reported 
recommending  that  he  be  confirmed,  but  the  Committee  on  the 
Bridewell  reported  adversely  to  the  confirmation  of  Mr.  Haines. 
July  8  the  Council  concurred  in  the  report  as  to  Haines  by  a 
vote  of  25  ayes  to  7  nays,  and  Hickey  was  rejected  for  Superin- 
tendent of  Police  by  a  vote  of  22  to  11.  July  15  Mayor  Heath 
sent  in  the  name  of  V.  A.  Seavey  for  General  Superintendent 
of  Police,  and  the  appointment  was  confirmed  by  the  Council 
July  22,  by  a  vote  of  32  to  2.  Other  appointments  made  by 
Mayor  Heath  during  the  last  year  of  his  administration  were  E. 
S.  Chesbrough,  as  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  A.  C.  Bart- 
lett  and  James  Frake,    members  of  the  Board  of  Education,    F. 

C.  Hotz,  O.  S.  A.  Sprague  and  W.  J.  Onahan,  Directors  of 
the  Public  Library,  Luther  L.  Mills,  Inspector  House  of  Cor- 
rection, Theodore  Karls,  Sealer  of  Weights  and  Measures,  John 

D.  Murphy,  Boiler  Inspector.  August  12  Mayor  Heath  an- 
nounced that  he  was  about  to  leave  the  city  for  a  short  time  and 
requested  the   Council    to    elect  one  of    their    number  to  act  as 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  205 

Mayor  pro  tern  during  his  absence.  The  Council  proceeded  to 
elect  a  Mayor  pro  tern  by  ballot,  and  on  the  second  ballot  Aid. 
James  H.  Gilbert  was  elected,  receiving  19  votes  out  of  a  total 
of  33.  August  26  the  acting  Mayor  announced  that  R.  B. 
Hayes,  President  of  the  United  States,  and  His  Excellency  the 
Mexican  Minister  at  Washington  would  visit  Chicago  September 
3  and  5,  respectively,  and  on  motion  Aid.  Pearsons,  Cary,  Tully, 
Seaton  and  Jonas  were  appointed  t©  co-operate  with  the  Citizen's 
Reception  Committee.  December  30  the  Council  passed  an  or. 
dinance  organizing  and  re-organizing  the  Department  of  Public 
Works  as  a  department  of  the  city  government  existing  since  the 
adoption  by  the  city  of  the  "Act  to  provide  for  the  Incorporation 
of  Cities  and  Villages,"  in  force  July  1,  1882.  Under  the  provi- 
sions of  this  ordinance  E.  S.  Chesbrough  was  appointed  Com- 
missioner of  Public  Works,  January  13,  1879,  his  bond  being 
signed  by  W.  H.  Bradley,  Mark  Skinner,  E.  W.  Blatchford  and 
George  Armour. 

About  this  date  a  great  hue  and  cry  was  raised  by  the  press 
about  "bunko  steerers"  and  it  was  charged  that  they  openly  plied 
their  business  of  "roping  in"  unsophisticated  people  on  the  public 
streets.  On  motion  of  Aid.  Cullerton  Mayor  Heath  appointed 
a  special  committee  consisting  of  Aid.  Cullerton,.  Phelps  and 
Waldo  to  ascertain  if  public  gaming  houses  were  permitted  to 
run  in  the  city.  The  bunko  men  were  subsequently  thinned  out 
by  the  police. 

Comptroller  Farwell  in  his  estimate  of  expenses  for  the  fiscal 
year  January  1,  1879  to  December  31,  1879,  made  to  the  Coun- 
cil January  27,  1879,  had  the  following  to  say  in  reference  to  the. 
city  finances  : 

"In  making  my  estimates  for  the  current  year,  I  have  been 
guided  by  the  amounts  expended  by  the  several  departments 
during  the  past  year,  with  an  addition  in  most  cases  of  10  per 
cent.,  to  meet  estimated  loss  in  collection.  My  estimates  for 
1879  aggregate  $3,277,673.36.  Deducting  therefrom  the  esti- 
mated miscellaneous  receipts  and  cash  in  the  treasury  applicable 
thereto,  in  all  amounting  to,  say,  $400,000,  would  leave  $2,877,- 
6^^.2)6.  These  calculations  are  made  on  the  assumption  that  the 
margins  of  unexpended  appropriations  for  1876,  1877,  and  1878 
yet  uncollected  will  be  re-appropriated  so  far  as  may  be  required, 
and  1  should  hope  that  whatever  excess  of  receipts  might  be  real- 
ized from  these  sources  during  the  present  year  over  and  above 
the  unfilled  purposes  of  the  original  appropriation  could  be 
brought  forward  and  used  in  cash  during  the  next  fall  and  winter, 


206  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

thus  saving  to  that  extent  the  issuing  of  warrants  against  the 
appropriations  for  1879.  This  course  pursued  for  a  few  years, 
with  strict  economy  and  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  principle  of  al- 
ways keeping  a  margin  of,  say,  10  to  15  per  cent,  within  the  ap- 
propriations, the  city  would  then  have  practically  but  little  diffi- 
culty in  meeting  its  current  expenses  in  cash." 

The  City  Treasurer  reported  a  balance  in  the  Treasury 
January  1,  1879,  of  $791,916.58.  The  expenditures  during  the 
preceding  year  had  aggregated  $5,967,295.83.  The  net  balance 
in  the  Treasury  January  31,  1879,  as  shown  by  the  Comptroller's 
report,  was  $886,029.21.  March  12,  1879,  the  Council  passed  an 
appropriation  bill  for  the  fiscal  year  January  1,  1879,  to  Decem- 
ber 31,  1879,  which  contained  items  aggregating  $3,975,597.55, 
and  March  17  Mayor  Heath  vetoed  the  bill,  on  the  ground  that 
a  number  of  the  items  were  unnecessary,  and  that  the  total  ap- 
propriations, including  cash  and  miscellaneous  receipts,  footed 
up  $4,387,597.55.  Another  bill  was  adopted  by  the  Council 
March  18,  in  which  the  sum  total  of  the  appropriations  was  $3,- 
776,450.79.  This  amount  was  inserted  in  the  ordinance  for  the 
tax  levy.  April  4  the  Comptroller  reported  that  the  amount  of 
money  actually  in  the  Treasury  at  the  close  of  the  books  Febru- 
ary 28,  1879,  was  $1,061,690.78. 

Mayor  Heath's   final  message,  read  by  him  in  the  presence 
of  both  the  incoming  and  outgoing  Council  April  28,  1879,  was 
as  follows  : 
"To  the  Hon.,  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago: 

"Gentlemen — In  pursuance  of  the  duty  imposed  by  the  Char- 
ter, and  being  about  to  retire  from  the  office  of  Mayor  of  this 
city,  it  is  my  desire  and  duty  to  place  before  you  for  the  purpose 
of  information  and  future  reference  some  of  the  most  important 
of  the  permanent  results  accomplished  by  and  during  this  ad- 
ministration. I  was  elected  Mayor  July  12,  1876;  on  that  day 
the  bonded  debt  of  the  city  was  $13,457,000.00;  the  bonded 
debt  is  now  $13,043,000.00;  reduction  $414,000.00;  on  July  12, 
1876,  the  outstanding  illegal  certificates  of  indebtedness  were  $3,- 
01 1,329.63  ;  we  have  paid  and  taken  up  of  these  certificates  since 
that  date  $2,762,329.63  ;  balance  now  outstanding  $249,000.00. 
At  that  date  (July  12,  1S76)  the  credit  funds  of  the  treasury  had 
been  overdrawn  to  meet  deficits  in,  and  drafts  upon  other  funds 
owing  to  failures  in  collections  and  other  causes,  about  $1,800,- 
000.00 ;  these  overdrafts  have  since  been  paid  and  restored,  to 
the  amount  of  about  $900,000.00;  leavinga  balance  still  due  credit 
fund  of  $900,000.00  ;  at  that  date  also  (July  12,  1876)  there  were 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  20J 

no  funds  in  the  treasury  to  pay  the  salaries  of  employes,  about 
five  months'  pay  being  due.  We  have  since,  by  legislation  legal- 
ized the  tax  levies  for  1873  and  1874,  then  declared  void,  and 
have  procured  judgments  for  the  delinquent  taxes  of  such  years 
in  both  the  County  and  Appellate  Courts.  The  legality  of  these 
new  levies  will  be  finally  argued  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  J  une  next. 
If  the  legality  of  these  taxes  is  sustained  in  that  Court,  we  are 
certain  to  collect  within  a  short  time  from  the  taxes  of  these 
years  upon  real  estate  alone,  to  wit : 

"Cash  on  deposit  with  County  Treasurer  on  appeals  $45,450.- 
89  ;  on  forfeitures  to  the  state,  drawing  interest  at  10  per  cent. 
$901,000.00  ;  on  forfeitures  from  the  taxes  of  1875,  $283,000.00; 
total  good  assets  and  taxes  legalized  during  this  administration 
$1,230,388.33.  Deducting  from  these  assets  the  amount  of  out- 
standing certificates  to  wit,  $249,00000,  and  restoring  outstand- 
ing overdrafts  on  the  treasury,  to  wit,  $900,000.00,  we  will  have  a 
net  balance  in  the  treasury  from  these  sources  of  $81,388.33.  In 
addition  to  the  above  assets  we  hold  tax  deeds  and  certificates  of 
1871  and  1872,  amounting  to  $116,922.37  ;  in  forfeitures  of  1876 
$162,814.99  ;  in  forfeitures  of  1877  $275,196.15  ;  total  net  assets, 
after  paying  all  outstanding  liabilities  on  illegal  certificates  and 
restoring  credit  funds  heretofore  overdrawn,  $636,3.21.84. 

"I  do  not  estimate  in  the  above  doubtful  assets  from  delin- 
quent personal  property  taxes,  which  will  undoubtedly  yield  some 
revenue,  though  the  amount  cannot  well  be  estimated.  The  es- 
timated net  reserve  from  the  appropriations  of  18/8  is  about 
$400,000,  of  which  sum  about  $  1 50,000  will  be  collected  during  the 
fiscal  year.  This  reserve  is  not  taken  into  consideration  in  the 
above  enumeration  of  assets  nor  in  the  appropriation  bill  for 
1879,  but  will,  as  collected,  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  appropriate 
funds  of  this  year,  and  may  be  expended  and  kept  as  a  cash  re- 
serve to  be  added  to  the  reserve  for  1879  m  1880.  During  this 
administration,  also,  we  have  paid  off  floating  obligations  against 
the  city  for  deficiencies  under  condemnation  and  other  special 
proceedings  held  void  in  1869-70  and  subsequent  years,  and 
which  amount  in  all  to  several  hundred  thousand  dollars.  With 
one  or  two  exceptions,  all  claims  of  this  character  are  now  ad- 
justed and  satisfied.  During  the  past  year  the  powers  of  the 
corporation  have  been  so  thoroughly  settled  and  defined  in  the 
courts  that  it  is  not  likely  that  very  grave  mistakes  will  hereafter 
occur  through  ignorance  of  the  law.  For  1873,  as  appeared  on 
the  face  of  the  appropriation  bill  itself,  sixteen  per  cent,  of  the 
levy  was  illegal ;  for  1874,  fourteen  per  cent,  was  illegal,  and  for 


208  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

1875  nine  per  cent,  was  held  void.  After  a  series  of  suits,  we 
have  procured  finally  from  the  Supreme  Court  decisions 
affirming  the  right  of  the  city  to  anticipate  by  a  proper  warrant 
the  collection  of  current  taxes  to  pay  current  expenses  ;  and  also 
the  right  of  the  city  to  refund  to  the  holders  of  illegal  certificates 
the  amount  of  money  advanced  by  them  to  the  city,  and  repre- 
sented by  such  certificates  out  of  the  taxes  as  collected  for  the 
year  and  fund  in  and  upon  which  they  were  drawn.  The  certifi- 
cates thus  drawn  in  1875  and  1876-7  were  held  to  be  void  ;  while 
those  drawn  on  the  levy  for  1878  were  sustained  by  the  Court  as 
legal  drafts  upon  the  treasury.  Very  important  decisions  have 
also  been  announced  settling  the  law,  and  procedure  governing 
special  proceedings  for  taking  and  assessing  private  property  for 
public  use  and  improvements.  The  Supreme  Court  has  also 
sustained  the  power  of  the  city  to  levy  taxes  for  school  purposes 
and  affirmed  the  legal  existence  of  that  body.  The  right  of  the 
city  to  license,  regulate  and  control  the  management  of  estab- 
lishments within  or  near  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city  engaged 
in  rendering,  fertilizing,  etc.,  has  also  been  fully  sustained.  It 
has  also  been  decided  in  our  own  and  the  Federal  Supreme 
Court  that  the  city  is  not  liable  to  adjacent  property  owners  for 
damages  by  reason  of  building  the  Washington  and  LaSalle 
street  tunnels  nor  to  riparian  owners  claiming  to  be  specially  in- 
jured thereby  ;  but  it  is  claimed  the  present  constitution  has 
again  unsettled  the  law  governing  questions  of  this  nature,  and 
that  the  city  is  now  liable  for  injuries  to  property  abutting  upon 
viaducts  and  tunnels  ordered  and  built  since  August  1870.  The 
Department  of  the  Interior  at  Washington,  before  which  the 
title  of  the  city  to  all  the  land  between  Randolph  street  and  Park 
Row  and  east  of  Michigan  Avenue,  including  also  Dearborn 
Park,  was  litigated  by  parties  locating  Valentine  Scrip  thereon, 
has  finally,  after  a  protracted  contest,  rejected  all  the  locations 
and  confirms  the  title  in  the  city.  The  improved  financial  con- 
dition of  the  city  enabled  us,  during  the  last  year,  to  commence 
the  building  of  the  City  Hall,  which  work,  though  somewhat  de- 
layed by  adverse  litigation,  has  progressed  rapidly,  the  second 
story  above  the  foundation  being  now  nearly  completed." 

The  message  closed  with  citations  of  reductions  which  had 
been  made  in  the  expenses  of  the  principal  departments.  The 
Council  adopted  resolutions  thanking  Mayor  Heath  and  City 
Clerk  Caspar  Butz  for  their  able  and  efficient  services. 

Mayor  Heath  in  response,  said  : 

"This  resolution  is  a  very  flattering  one.      If  I  have  been  en- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  209 

abled  in  my  administration  to  do  anything  for  the  good  of  the 
city,  it  has  been  because  I  have  had  the  co-operation  of  the 
Council.  If  I  could,  I  would  like  to  have  a  resolution  passed 
thanking  the  Council  for  its  hearty  support  of  my  administration. 
I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  and  will  now  announce  the  induction  of 
the  new  members.      The  Clerk  will  call  the  roll." 

Monroe  Heath  was  born  in  a  little  New  Hampshire  town  in 
1828.  He  came  West  in  1847,  remained  a  few  months,  and  then 
returned  to  New  England.  In  1849  ne  joined  the  exodus  to  the 
gold  mines  of  California,  and  early  in  the  fifties  he  came  to  Chi- 
cago, where  he  embarked  in  his  present  business,  being  the  senior 
member  and  head  of  the  extensive  house  of  Heath  &  Milligan, 
dealers  in  paints,  oils,  etc.  Mr.  Heath  enjoys  a  well-earned  and 
enviable  reputation  as  a  substantial  businessman.  He  was  elect- 
ed alderman  of  the  Twelfth  Ward  in  1871  and  re-elected  in  1873, 
and  has  held  many  positions  of  honor  and  trust.  At  the  date  of 
this  writing  he  resides  at  Arlington  Heights,  and  while  still  an 
active  business  man,  he  has  taken  no  active  part  in  politics  since 
the  conclusion  of  his  term  as  Mayor. 


h 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  MUNICIPAL    ELECTION    OF     1 8  79 CARTER  H.   HARRISON'S    FIRST 

TERM  AS  MAYOR — ALDERMANIC    ELECTION,     1880 REPUBLICAN 

NATIONAL    CONVENTION      OF     l88o THE      ILLINOIS      CONTEST, 

ETC. ARGUMENTS    OF    RAUM,    ANTHONY    AND  STORRS— SPEECH 

OF  CONKLING  NOMINATING  GRANT — GARFIELD'S  NOMINATION 
OF  SHERMAN — THE  BALLOTING — WASHBURNE  FOR  VICE-PRESI- 
DENT— THE  NATIONAL  AND  STATE  CAMPAIGNS. 

There  were  three  full  city  tickets  in  the  field  at  the  munici- 
pal election  of  1879,  and  the  campaign  was  a  memorable  one  in 
the  annals  of  the  city.  The  Republicans  were  squarely  defeated 
by  the  Democrats,  whose  ticket  was  headed  by  a  man  who  rallied 
and  united  their  scattered  forces,  and  who  maintained  party  cohe- 
sion locally  for  eight  years,  being  himself  elected  Mayor  four 
times  in  succession, — a  record  unprecedented  by  the  most  popu- 
lar of  his  predecessors,  and  who  by  reason  of  his  marked  indi- 
viduality, great  executive  ability  and  political  acumen  speedily 
became  and  has  remained  the  best-known  Mayor  in  the  United 
States.  An  important  feature  of  the  campaign  was  that  it  devel- 
oped the  full  strength  of  the  Socialist  element  in  Chicago  poli- 
tics, the  culmination  of  its  power  being  also  the  signal  of  its  de- 
cline. Prior  to  the  holding  of  the  Republican  city  convention 
there  was  considerable  dissatisfaction  existing  among  the  adher- 
ents of  that  party,  one  faction  favoring  the  re-nomination  of 
Monroe  Heath  and  another  demanding  the  nomination  of  a  new 
leader  in  the  person  of  Abner  M.  Wright.  The  latter  received 
the  nomination,  Mr.  Heath  declining  to  allow  his  friends  to  use 
his  name.  At  this  time  the  Greenbackers  and  the  Anti-Monopo- 
lists had  entered  into  a  fusion  with  the  view  of  placing  a  city 
ticket  in  nomination,  and  in  a  convention  held  at  Greenebaum's 
hall  late  in  March  they  nominated  Carter  H.  Harrison  for  Mayor. 
The  Democrats  met  in  convention  and  Carter  H.  Harrison  being 
satisfactory  as  a  candidate  they  nominated  him  also,  thereby  rat- 
ifying his  nomination  by  the  Greenebaum's  hall  convention.  The 
Socialists,  through  their  ward  organizations,  sent  delegates  to  a 
convention,  in  which  also  was  represented  a  small  labor  faction 
that  was   dissatisfied    with    Mr.    Harrison's    nomination   by  the 

(210) 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS. 


21 


Greenebaum  hall  party,  and  this  convention  placed  in  nomina- 
tion as  the  Socialist  candidate  for  Mayor,  Dr.  Ernst  Schmidt,  a 
former  Republican.  While  Socialism  had  spread  through  many 
of  the  wards  and  had  a  large  foreign-born  following  in  the  fall 
of  1878,  when  Sylvester  Artley  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate 
and  Leo  Meilbeck  and  Christian  Meyer  to  the  lower  House,  and 
John  McAuliffe  in  the  then  First  Congressional  district,  and 
George  A.  Schilling  and  John  Sebolski  in  the  Second,  with  other 
candidates,  had  polled  several  thousand  votes,  it  was  not  until 
the  spring  of  1879  that  the  Socialist  party  could  be  considered 
fully  organized.  Carter  H.  Harrison  had  been  a  County  Com- 
missioner, and  had  twice  been  elected  to  Congress  from  the  then 
Second  district  as  a  Democrat,  and  therefore  at  this  time  had 
some  experience  in  campaigning.  He  went  vigorously  into  the 
contest  and  by  his  superior  qualities  on  the  stump,  and  a  spirited 
and  aggressive  campaign,  he  made  great  headway  among  the 
voters,  and  in  the  election  achieved  a  splendid  majority.  The 
election  took  place  Tuesday,  April  1,  and  resulted  as  follows : 


DEMOCRATIC  TICKET. 


Mayor,  Carter  H.  Harrison,     . 
City  Treasurer,  William  C.  Seipp, 
City  Attorney,  Julius  S.  Grinnell, 
City  Clerk,  Patrick  J.  Howard,    . 


REPUBLICAN  TICKET. 


Mayor,  Abner  M.  Wright, 
City  Treasurer,  Marcus  A.  Farwell, 
City  Attorney,  Richard  W.  Ricaby, 
City  Clerk,  Peter  Buschwah, 


SOCIALIST  TICKET. 


25>685 
26,176 

24.I71 
24,427 

20,496 
20,662 
21,919 
21,743 


Mayor,  Ernst  Schmidt,     .....      11,829 
City  Treasurer,  Frank  A.  Stauber,       .         .  10,874 

City  Attorney,  Harry  Rubens,  .         .         .      11,858 

City  Clerk,  Benjamin  Sibley,        .         .         .  11,276 

The  total  number  of  votes  cast  in  the  election,  including 
321  scattering,  was  for  Mayor,  58,331  ;  Treasurer,  58,033  ;  At- 
torney, 58,269  ;  Clerk,  57,767.  Eighteen  Aldermen  were  elected, 
the  votes  for  the  various  candidates  being  as  follows :  First 
Ward,  Arthur  Dixon,  Rep.,  1,697;  J.Ward  Ellis,  Dem.,  722; 
N.  H.  Jorgensen,  Socialist,  115;  Second  Ward,  Addison  Bal- 
lard, Rep.,  1,296;  Samuel  Engel,  Dem.,  1,130;  George  A.  Schil- 
ling, Socialist,  222  ;  Third  Ward,  John  M.  Clark,  Rep.,  1,428; 
A.  F.   Seeberger,    Dem.,  730;    H.   L.    Hull,    Ind.,    124;  Fourth 


212  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Ward,  Amos  Grannis,  Rep.,  2,151  ;  Firman  Church,  Dem.,  1,126; 
Louis  Hutt,  Ind.,  212;  Fifth  Ward.  Michael  McAuley,  Dem., 
1,848;  Andrew  Ryder,  Rep.,  848;  T.  J.  Morgan,  Labor,  1,688; 
John  C.  Folz,  Ind.,  355  ;  Sixth  Ward,  William  Curran,  Dem., 
1,364;  T.  Diener,  Rep.,  487  ;  J.  J.  Altpeter,  Socialist,  1,532; 
Seventh  Ward,  John  Riordan,  Dem.,  1,718;  J.  J.  Curran,  Ind. 
Dem.,  828;  F.  Bielefeldt,  Socialist,  1,058;  John  Schmelz,  Ind, 
372  ;  Eighth  Ward,  Thomas  Purcell,  Dem.,  1,723  ;  James 
O'Brien,  Ind.  Dem.,  1,534;  O.  W.  Barrett,  Rep.,  775;  Henry 
Stahl,  Socialist,  549;  Ninth  Ward,  James  Peevey,  Dem.,  1,659; 
Richard  Jones,  Rep.,  994;  R.  S.  Pratt,  Socialist,  97;  Tenth 
Ward,  Michael  McNurney,  Rep.,  1,073  ;  J.  E.  Lawrence,  470  ; 
Robert  Beck,  361  ;  E.  C.  Christianson,  23;  Eleventh  Ward, 
George  B.  Swift,  Rep.,  2,096;  W.  B.  Bateham,  Dem.,  827;  H. 
Johnson,  Ind.,  116;  Twelfth  Ward,  Joseph  D.  Everett,  Rep., 
2,850  J.  W.  Goodspeed,  Dem.,  320;  Max  Selle,  Socialist,  38; 
Thirteenth  Ward,  Hiram  P.  Thompson,  Rep.,  1,255  ;  B.  Quirk, 
Ind.  Rep.,  1,121;  George  Braun,  154;  Fourteenth  Ward,  Michael 
Ryan,  Dem.,  1,614;  Reinhard  Lorenz,  Socialist,  1,718;  Louis 
Martin,  Rep.,  1,010;  Fifteenth  Ward,  Adam  Meyer,  Socialist, 
1,246;  John  C.  Ender,  Rep,  918;  John  Feltes,  Socialist,  903; 
Sixteenth  Ward,  Chris.  Meyer,  Socialist,  1,520;  M.  Schweisthal, 
Dem.,  i,iil ;  Seventeenth  Ward,  Edward  P.  Barrett,  Dem., 
1,675;  B.  Janssen,  Socialist,  655  ;  Jas.  Lynn,  Rep.,  424  ;  Eight- 
eenth Ward,  Wm.  G.  McCormick,  Dem.,  1,724  ;  A.  L.  Chetlain, 
Rep.,  1,450;  D.  Van  Dewenter,  Socialist,  245.  There  was  a 
contest  and  re-count  in  the  Second  and  Fifth  Wards,  which  did 
not  change  the  result  as  given.  Aid.  Ryan  protested  against  the 
admission  of  Reinhard  Lorenz,  but  the  Council  gave  Lorenz  the 
seat. 

At  the  installation  of  the  new  Council,  April  28,  1879,  tne 
first  business  was  the  approval  of  the  official  bonds  of  the  officers 
elect.  Mayor  Harrison's  bond,  in  the  sum  of  $10,000,  was 
signed  by  John  C.  Richberg,  Caroline  D.  Harrison  and  Murray 
F.  Tuley  ;  City  Treasurer  Seipp's  bond,  in  the  sum  of  $4,500,000, 
by  Conrad  Seipp,  Peter  Schoenhofen,  Berthold  Loewenthal, 
Frederick  Mahla,  George  Schneider,  Louis  A.  Huck,  William 
Metzger,  John  Buehler^  Peter  Schuttler,  Peter  Wolf,  and  H.  J. 
Christoph  ;  City  Attorney  Grinnell's  bond  in  the  sum  of  $5,000, 
signed  by  Horace  A.  Hurlbut  and  William  M.  Hoyt ;  City  Clerk 
Howard's  bond  in  the  sum  of  $5,000,  signed  by  Harvey  T. 
Weeks  and  M.  J.  Corboy.  The  inaugural  address  of  Mayor 
Harrison  to  the  Council  was  as  follows  : 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  213 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Common  Council: — The  welfare  of 
nearly  500,000  people  depends,  to  a  large  extent,  upon  the  man- 
ner in  which  you  may,  during  the  next  twelve  months,  discharge 
your  official  duties.  A  city  sprung  into  existence  within  your 
own  memory,  but  already  the  third  in  America  in  population,  and 
in  commercial  importance  ranking  among  the  ten  leading  cities 
of  the  world,  will  have  its  growth  and  progress  more  or  less  ad- 
vanced or  retarded  by  your  action.  Its  citizens  have,  within  the 
past  eight  years,  struggled  under  difficulties  sufficient  to  paralyze 
any  other  people.  Those  difficulties  with  them  have  only  called 
forth  unexampled  energies.  They  know  not  how  to  despair.  To 
manage  the  affairs  of  such  a  community  is  worthy  of  a  proud 
ambition,  and  should  beget  in  its  representatives  a  sense  of  deep 
and  earnest  responsibility.  Rising  from  the  ashes  of  two  confla- 
grations unequaled  in  the  past,  Chicago  and  her  people,  bur- 
dened by  an  enormous  debt,  were  at  once  confronted  by  a  finan- 
cial revulsion,  which  has  disturbed  the  social  foundations  of 
nations.  Labor  has  struggled  for  bread,  and  has  often  been 
forced  to  go  without  sufficient  food.  Real  estate,  the  foundation 
of  wealth,  which  furnishes  four-fifths  of  the  city's  revenues,  has 
been  laid  under  a  heavy  load  of  taxation.  Rents  being  low,  and 
sales  practically  impossible,  land  has  been  unable  to  meet  its  obli- 
gations. Taxation  locks  up  money  in  the  hands  of  the  money 
dealer,  where  it  escapes  the  eye  of  the  collector,  thus  forcing  le- 
gitimate enterprise  to  bear  an  unequal  burden.  This  stifles  en- 
ergy, deters  investment,  and  will,  unless  checked,  dry  up  the 
sources  of  revenue.  Chicago  expects  you  to  give  her  relief.  She 
will  forgive  honest  mistakes,  but  she  demands  of  you  worthy 
and  earnest  diligence.  On  me,  gentlemen,  devolves  the  duty 
and  responsibility  of  carrying  out  your  will,  and  of  enforcing  the 
laws.  I  accept  the  responsibilities  with  diffidence,  and  shall  en- 
deavor to  perform  the  duty  with  an  eye  single  to  the  good  of  the 
public.  I  have  but  one  policy  to  declare.  That  is,  to  protect 
the  lives,  the  property  and  health  of  the  city  at  all  times  and  in 
every  emergency,  and  to  do  it  in  an  honest  and  economical  man- 
ner. I  recognize  but  one  science  in  finance.  That  is,  to  collect 
the  revenues  and  live  within  them.  Debts  can  be  wiped  out  in 
but  one  way,  by  payment.  Surplus  can  be  acquired  only  by  sav- 
ing. Saving  can  be  made  only  by.  honest  expenditures  for  wise 
and  legitimate  purposes,  and  by  preventing  all  leakage.  The 
bonded  debt  of  Chicago  amounts  to  about  $13,000,000.  If  you 
will  aid  me,  gentlemen,  in  an  economical  administration  of  affairs, 
I  believe  it  will  be  possible  to  fund  a  part  of  this  debt  so  as  to 


214  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

save  from  one  to  two  per  cent,  per  annum.  The  people  will  cheer- 
fully submit  to  many  temporary  inconveniences  for  so  permanent 
a  relief.  Life  and  property  in  cities  are  protected  by  the  police. 
A  corrupt  police  is  a  gnawing  cancer.  The  citizen  lying  down 
at  night  should  not  only  be  protected,  but  should  feel  secure. 
Apprehension  of  a  fancied  danger  is  as  disgusting  as  that  of  a 
real  one.  I  shall  endeavor,  as  far  as  may  be  possible  in  my  short 
term,  to  make  the  police  department  brave,  honest  and  efficient. 
It  will  be  my  aim  to  have  the  star  worn  by  none  but  proper  men. 
"Ours  is  a  cosmopolitan  people,  aggregated  from  many  na- 
tionalities within  a  little  more  than  one  generation  of  man.  Each 
of  the  several  elements  has  its  own  ideas  of  social  and  religious 
life,  its  own  civilization.  They  have  one  bond  of  union,  devotion 
to  republican  institutions,  and  energy  in  pursuit  of  fortune.  Each 
should  study  to  accommodate  itself  as  much  as  possible  to  the 
social  life  and  prejudices  of  each  of  the  others,  and  of  the  whole. 
For  any  one  to  attempt  to  make  a  Procrustean  bed,  to  which  the 
others  should  be  forced  to  fit,  would  be  both  ungenerous  and 
unwise.  Time  alone  can  make  them  all  homogeneous.  I  can 
not  hope  to  satisfy  all.  I  shall  endeavor,  however,  to  irritate 
none  unnecessarily,  but  shall  try  to  so  execute  the  laws  and  ordi- 
nances as  to  do  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  avoid- 
ing doing  an  injury  to  any  rightly  acting  man.  A  good  sanitary 
condition  is  indispensable  to  the  prosperity  of  the  city.  But 
sweet  scents  may  not  be  its  necessary  concomitant ;  nor  is  the 
converse  necessarily  true.  Too  many  are  alarmed  at  an  unpleas- 
ant but  innocuous  odor,  and  inhale  with  pleasure  a  sweet  perfume 
laden  with  disease.  I  shall  endeavor  to  foster  healthfulness, 
and  yet  not  destroy  our  great  commercial  interests.  Cleanli- 
ness is  indispensable  to  health,  but  the  people  should  remember 
that  Chicago  has  no  money  in  her  treasury,  is  forbidden  to 
borrow,  and  is  forced  to  live  on  revenues  not  collectable  for 
nearly  a  year.  She  will  perform  wonders,  but  impossibilities 
must  not  be  expected.  The  constitution  of  the  land  guarantees 
to  all  citizens  the  right  to  peaceably  assemble  to  petition  for  re- 
dress of  grievances.  This  carries  the  right  to  free  discussion. 
It  also  guarantees  to  the  people  the  right  to  keep  and  bear  arms. 
But  it  does  not  give  to  any  one  the  right  to  use  arms  to  threaten 
or  to  resist  lawful  authority.  The  genius  of  our  institutions  rests 
on  law.  To  it  and  its  officers,  all  good  citizens  should  appeal 
for  protection.  I  will  protect  all  in  their  lawful  rights.  Some 
persons  fear  an  organized  resistance  to  authority  in  Chicago.  I 
do  not.      I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  in  our  midst  any  consid- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS. 


2*5 


erable  body  of  men  mad  enough  to  attempt  such  folly.  For  they 
must  know  they  would  be  but  as  chaff  compared  to  the  solid 
masses  who  love  our  institutions,  and  are  determined  that  law 
and  order  shall  reign.  If,  however,  there  be  any  so  ignorant  as 
to  think  differently,  or  so  rash  as  to  attempt  violence,  they  will 
quickly  find  that  they  have  made  a  fatal  blunder.  Our  honest 
citizens  and  brave  police  can,  and  will,  protect  the  city.  Gentle- 
men, in  sending  to  you  names  for  confirmation  for  positions,  I 
shall  be  guided  first  and  above  all  by  the  interests  of  the  city, 
secondarily  by  the  interest  of  true  Democracy.  I  have  been 
chosen  to  fill  this  chair  by  a  great  political  party.  But  its  25,685 
voters  expect  and  demand  that  I  be  the  Mayor  of  the  whole 
people." 

During  the  first  year  of  his  administration  Mayor  Harrison 
made  the  following  important  appointments,  all  of  which  were 
confirmed  : — Francis  Adams,  Corporation  Counsel ;  Simon 
O'Donnell,  General  Superintendent  of  Police  ;  D.  J.  Swenie,  Fire 
Marshal ;  Charles  S.  Cameron.  Prosecuting  Attorney ;  W.  P. 
Dunne,  City  Physician;  T.  T.  Gurney,  City  Comptroller; 
Alexander  Kirkland,  Superintendent  of  Buildings  ;  W.  J.  Onahan, 
City  Collector ;  Charles  S.  Waller,  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works  ;  William  Curren,  M.  A.  Delaney,  J.  C.  Richberg,  P.  O. 
Stensland  and  I.  N.  Stiles,  Members  of  the  Board  of  Education  ; 
R.  H.  Forrester,  Berthold  Loewenthal,  A.  B.  Mason,  Harry 
Rubens  and  D.  L.  Shorey,  Directors  of  the  Public  Library ; 
Luther  L.  Mills,  Inspector  of  the  House  of  Correction  ;  Logan 
D.  Wallace,  Police  Magistrate  South  Division  ;  W.  J.  Clingen, 
Clerk,  Jeremiah  Flynn,  Bailiff;  David  Walsh,  Police  Magistrate 
West  Division,  John  Blom,  Clerk  ;  William  Meyer,  Clerk,  vice 
John  Blom,  resigned  ;  William  Whalen,  Bailiff;  S.  D.  Baldwin, 
Gas  Inspector;  Walter  Macdonald,  Sealer  of  Weights  and  Meas- 
ures;  Mathias  Franzen,  Oil  Inspector. 

May  19  majority  and  minority  reports  from  the  Committee 
on  Licenses  in  reference  to  the  question  of  closing  saloons  on 
Sunday  were  received.  The  majority  report  opposed  any  inter- 
ference on  the  part  of  the  Council  with  the  "personal  liberties" 
of  citizens,  and  instanced  the  furore  created  by  similar  attempts 
under  the  Mason  and  Medill  administrations.  This  report  was 
signed  by  Aids.  Ryan,  Niesen,  Eizner,  and  Lodding.  The  mi- 
nority report,  signed  by  Aid.  Cullerton,  advised  the  passage  of  an 
ordinance  framed  to  enforce  the  state  law  and  close  all  saloons 
on  Sunday.  On  motion  of  Aid.  Stauber,  the  latter  report  was 
laid  on  the  table  and  on    motion  of  Aid.  Meier  the  majority  re- 


2l6  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

port  was  adopted.  June  9  Mayor  Harrison  sent  a  communication 
to  Fire  Marshal  Benner  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
Legislature  had  passed  a  law  restricting  the  issue  of  warrants  or 
scrip  to  75  per  cent,  of  the  tax  levy  ;  showing  how  this  would  re- 
duce the  city's  revenue  and  requesting  him  to  reduce  the  ex- 
penses of  his  department  correspondingly.  Mr.  Benner  main- 
tained that  he  had  no  power  to  force  his  men  to  agree  to  a  re- 
duction and  that  it  must  be  voluntary  on  their  part,  and  in  this 
view  he  was  sustained  by  the  Corporation  Counsel,  who  in  an 
opinion  rendered  to  the  Mayor,  declared  that  unless  the  firemen 
voluntarily  consented  to  a  reduction  in  salaries,  salaries  could 
only  be  reduced  by  discharging  the  men  and  employing  others 
in  their  stead  at  lower  salaries  ;  and  it  was  shown  that  the  Mayor 
could  not  discharge  the  men,  and  that  they  could  only  be  dis- 
charged by  the  Fire  Marshal  by  and  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
First  and  Second  Assistant  Marshals.  Fire  Marshal  Benner  ac- 
cordingly issued  an  order  to  chiefs  of  battalions  directing  them 
to  ascertain  how  many  of  the  men  were  willing  to  serve  during 
the  succeeding  six  months  of  the  year  at  a  reduction  of  5  per 
cent,  from  their  salaries  as  appropriated.  Out  of  the  352  men 
belonging  to  the  force  but  three  were  willing  to  accept  the  re- 
duction ;  344  were  opposed  to  it,  and  five  were  absent  on  sick 
leave.  Mayor  Harrison  took  offence  at  the  attitude  and  action  of 
Chief  Benner,  and  demanded  his  resignation.  Benner  replied 
that  he  would  consider  the  matter.  Mayor  Harrison  thereupon 
peremptorily  discharged  him  and  appointed  D.  J.  Swenie  as  chief 
of  the  department.  Several  meetings  of  citizens  were  held  and 
protests  were  entered  against  the  removal  of  Benner,  both  by 
these  meetings  and  also  by  the  Board  of  Underwriters.  July  12 
the  Council  by  a  vote  of  28  to  6  disapproved  of  the  action  of  the 
Mayor  in  removing  Benner.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Coun- 
cil, July  14,  Benner's  official  bond  as  Fire  Marshal,  in  the  penal 
sum  of  $25,000,  signed  by  L.  Z.  Leiter,  M.  W.  Powell,  James  A. 
Kirk  and  Louis  Haas,  was  approved  by  the  Council  by  a  vote  of 
27  to  4. 

July  21  Comptroller  Gurney  made  his  first  report  to  the 
Council  of  the  money  actually  in  the  treasury  May  31,  1879. 
The  statement  in  brief  was  as  follows  : 

Amount  in  treasury  $836,920.80.  Less  warrants  drawn  and 
payable  on  demand. and  not  yet  presented,  $10,532.74.  Net  bal- 
ance $826,388.06. 

Amount  of  warrants  drawn  against  the  several  appropri- 
ations for  the  current  fiscalyear  during  the  month  of  June,  1879, 
$449,473.09. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  217 

Warrants  of  former  years  redeemed  by  Treasurer  in  June, 
1879,  $118,141.34.  Amount  of  warrants  outstanding  June  30, 
1879,  payable  on  demand,  $10,532.74. 

Payable  from  taxes  of  1878  when  collected,  $956,384.73. 
Payable  from  taxes  of  1879,  when  collected,  $445,995.56.  Total, 
$1,412,913.03. 

July  21  the  Council  granted  the  Knights  Templar  permis- 
sion to  erect  a  temporary  building  on  the  lake  front  for  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Grand  Encampment  of  the  United  States,  and  pitch 
tents  for  the  use  and  comfort  of  Templar  guests  during  the  great 
Triennial  Conclave  in  August,  1880.  August  4  the  Mayor  called 
the  attention  of  the  Council  to  the  fact  that  the  various  water 
pumping  engines  were  insufficient  to  supply  the  city  in  case  of 
emergency.  While  the  demand  was  but  68,000,000  gallons  per 
diem  and  the  nominal  capacity  of  the  engines  104,500,000  gal- 
lons, if  one  engine  were  stopped  for  repairs,  the  head  was  not 
sufficient  to  supply  high  buildings  and  remote  sections  of  the 
city,  and  complaints  were  frequent.  He  recommended  the  pur- 
chase of  two  new  pumping  engines  and  the  building  of  pumping 
works  on  the  West  side.  August  25  a  special  election  for  Alder- 
man of  the  First  ward  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resig- 
nation of  Aid.  M.  F.  Tuley  was  called  for  September  24.  The 
candidates  in  this  election  were  Dr.  Swayne  Wickersham,  Dem., 
David  J.  Lyon,  Rep.,  and  George  Gaide,  Ind.  The  vote  was, 
Wickersham  684,  Lyon,  367,  Gaide  30.  Aid.  Wickersham  was 
duly  installed  September  29.  October  27  the  Council  accepted 
an  invitation  to  attend  the  reception  to  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant,  upon 
his  return  from  his  tour  around  the  world.  This  reception  oc- 
curred in  November  and  took  the  form  of  a  popular  demonstra- 
tion. It  was  the  greatest  ovation  ever  paid  any  American  citi- 
zen and  was  entered  into  by  the  people  of  all  classes,  without 
reference  to  political  affiliations.  The  festivities  extended  over 
several  days  and  included  a  grand  procession,  representing  the 
military,  civic  societies  and  the  trades  ;  a  banquet  at  the  Palmer 
house,  at  which  speeches  were  made  by  many  famous  orators, 
and  a  re-union  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Not  less  than  150,- 
000  strangers  visited  the  city  and  the  monster  procession  wended 
its  way  through  a  throng  of  not  less  than  half  a  million  people, 
who  waited  patiently  along  the  line  of  march  from  noon  until  5 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  the  procession  occupying  nearly  five  hours 
in  passing  a  given  point. 

September  15  Mayor  Harrison  sent  to  the  Council  a  veto 
of  an  ordinance  passed  September  8,  granting  the   Chicago  and 


2  1  8  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

Western  Indiana  Railroad  the  right  of  way  on  Stewart  Avenue, 
over  which  a  celebrated  contest  and*  resort  by  the  property- 
owners  to  force  to  protect  their  rights,  arose.  After  referring  to 
the  rights  conferred,  the  message  continued  : 

"This  company  may,  therefore,  at  first  acquire  only  the  west 
tier  of  lots,  or  the  west  twenty- five  feet.  This  would  be  suffici- 
ent for  a  double-track  road.  The  owners  of  the  remaining  three 
tiers  of  lots,  for  over  one  mile,  would  be  left  between  the  upper 
and  nether  millstone,  and  would  be  forced  to  sell  their  lots  at  such 
prices  as  the  company  would  choose  to  offer,  or  to  seek  redress 
through  tedious  and  expensive  litigation.  These  owners  are 
generally  poor  people,  and  illy  able  to  bear  the  expense  and  de- 
lay necessarily  attending  lawsuits.  The  ordinance  should  have 
made  it  a  condition  precedent  that  the  company  should  acquire 
the  entire  one  hundred  feet.  *  *  *  The  corporators  of  this 
road  are  few,  and  I  am  informed,  have  no  great  available 
responsibility,  and  are  but  the  straw  representatives  of  far  more 
powerful  persons,  who  will  reap  the  rich  harvest  this  ordinance 
will  offer,  and  yet  escape  the  responsibilities  and  liabilities  it  will 
entail.  The  road  and  its  present  and  prospective  property  are 
burdened  by  a  mortgage  fully  covering  its  value.  When  it 
pushes  to  Van  Buren  street,  and  has  damaged  a  thousand 
property  owners  to  a  million  of  dollars,  where  will  they  look  for 
redress?  They  will  vainly  appeal  to  a  soulless  corporation  ;  they 
will  sue,  and  after  heartsickness  and  expense,  they  will  obtain 
judgment,  and  find  executions  worthless.  There  will  be  but  one 
consolation  left,  and  that  we  will  hear  ;  that  only  consolation  will 
be  in  curses — loud,  deep,  and  long — upon  the  city  government 
which  handed  them  over  bound  hand  and  foot  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  their  destroyers." 

The  great  damage  that  would  result  to  property  interests 
was  dwelt  upon  and  the  evils  of  stoppage  of  traffic  and  resultant 
expense  and  loss  of  time  to  citizens  were  enumerated,  and  the 
history  of  various  other  railroads  entering  the  city  was  gone  into, 
and  it  was  recommended  that  measures  be  taken  to  require  all 
roads  to  concentrate  their  tracks  and  enter  at  Union  depots. 
The  Council,  notwithstanding  this  able  and  public-spirited  mes- 
sage, passed  the  obnoxious  ordinance  over  the  Mayor's  veto. 
December  8  Mayor  Harrison  sent  to  the  Council  a  communi- 
cation setting  forth  the  difficulties  encountered  by  the  police  in 
enforcing  the  12  o'clock,  midnight,  saloon-closing  ordinance,  and 
recommending  in  the  interest  of  upward  of  3,000  working  men 
employed  at  night  in  the  business  district  that  saloons  be  allowed, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  219 

upon  payment  of  $104,  in  addition  to  the  regular  license  fee, 
to  remain  open  all  nigh*.  A  communication  was  also  sent  in  by 
the  Mayor  embodying  official  records  of  the  police  department 
and  conclusively  proving  that  there  had  been  no  increase  in  crime 
and  lawlessness,  as  had  been  charged  by  certain  newspapers. 
December  15  the  Mayor  called  attention  to  the  "smoke  nuisance" 
and  recommended  the  passage  of  an  ordinance  for  its  abatement. 
December  22  the  Council  extended  the  freedom  of  the  city  to 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell  and  John  Dillon,  in  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

Resolved,  That  the  Mayor  be,  and  is  hereby  authorized  to 
extend  the  hospitalities  and  freedom  of  the  city  of  Chicago  to 
the  representatives  of  the  oppressed  people  of  Ireland,  Messrs. 
Parnell  and  Dillon,  now  en  rotde  to  this  country. 

February  9,  1880,  the  Council  accepted  an  invitation  from 
ths  Irish  Land  Reform  and  Relief  Association  to  attend  the 
public  demonstration  and  reception  to  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  asso- 
ciates, Monday,  February  23.  January  19  the  Mayor  appointed 
Aldermen  Wickersham,  McNally,  Swift,  Meier  and  McAuley  a 
special  committee  to  arrange  for  the  reception  of  Parnell  and 
Dillon.  The  Mayor  at  the  head  of  this  committee,  with  other 
city  and  county  officials  and  representatives  of  Various  orders 
and  societies,  went  to  Kensington  and  received  Messrs.  Parnell 
and  Dillon,  and  escorted  them  to  the  city,  where  in  the  evening 
there  was  an  immense  demonstration,  and  the  Irish  orators  ad- 
dressed a  great  concourse  of  people  at  the  Exposition  building. 
January  30  the  Council  met  in  special  session  to  take  action 
concerning  the  death  of  the  Hon.  S.  S.  Hayes,  ex-City  Comp- 
troller under  Mayor  Colvin.  In  calling  the  Council  to  order  the 
Mayor  said  : 

"You  have  been  convened  because  of  the  death  of  one  of 
Chicago's  oldest  and  most  energetic  citizens — the  Hon.  S.  S. 
Hayes — who  died  suddenly  Wednesday  night,  with  only  half  an 
hour's  premonition.  He  had  been  sick,  but  thought  himself 
nearly  well.  He  has  been  taken  from  our  midst,  and  it  was 
deemed  proper  that  you  should  be  called  together  in  order  that 
you  might  express  sympathy  for  the  family  ;  called  together  be- 
cause in  the  history  of  Chicago  few  men  have  held  more  respon- 
sible positions  than  Mr.  Hayes,  or  have  been  to  a  larger  extent 
identified  with  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  this  great  city  of  the 
West." 

A  Committee  on  Resolutions,  composed  of  Aldermen  Wick- 
ersham, Swift  and  Stauber,  presented  the  following,  which  were 
adopted : 


220  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Whereas,  This  Council  has  been  officially  informed  of  the 
death  of  our  fellow  citizen,  the  Hon.  S*  S.  Hayes;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  have  received  with  deep  sorrow  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  death  of  one  who  has  been  for  nearly  thirty 
years  an  honored  citizen. 

Resolved,  That  our  city  has  occasion  to  mourn  the  loss  of 
one  long  identified  with  its  government  in  different  official  posi- 
tions, one  whose  rigid  honesty  and  strict  integrity  was  never 
questioned,  and  one  whose  conduct,  in  official  and  private  life, 
was  such  as  to  endear  him  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  ; 
active  in  all  public  affairs,  again  and  again  called  upon  to  fill  po- 
sitions of  great  responsibility  ;  an  energetic,  enthusiastic  man, 
he  devoted  the  best  portion  of  his  life  to  the  advancement  of 
the  interests  of  Chicago. 

Resolved,  That  we  extend  our  heartfelt  sympathy  to  the  be- 
reaved family  in  this  their  hour  of  deep  affliction. 

Resolved,  That  this  Council,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  S.  S.  Hayes,  attend  his  funeral  in  a  body,  and  that 
the  Mayor  be  requested  to  close  the  various  departments  of  the 
City  Government  on  the  day  of  the  funeral. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  placed  upon  the  records 
of  the  Council,  and  a  copy  be  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Aldermen  Rawleigh,  Peevey  and  Meyer  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  make  arrangements  for  the  Council  to  attend  the 
funeral  in  a  body. 

March  29  Mayor  Harrison  vetoed  items  in  the  first  appro- 
priation bill  coming  under  his  hands,  amounting  to  nearly 
$400,000,  and  in  reference  to  practices  of  economy  had  the  fol- 
lowing to  say  : 

"Permit  me  most  respectfully  to  say  that  not  one  cent  of 
savings  of  past  years  should  be  spent  for  ordinary  expenses  of 
the  current  year.  It  would  have  been  more  prudent  to  have 
found  out  exactly  what  the  levy  would  be,  and  then  resolutely  to 
so  restrict  ordinary  expenses  as  to  bring  them  within  the  limita- 
tion. A  city  such  as  Chicago  is  constantly  liable  to  unforeseen 
demands  upon  its  treasury.  Savings  should  be  sacredly  held  to 
meet  such  demands,  or  for  wiping  out  the  debt.  A  demand  is 
now  and  has  been  pressing  upon  us  in  the  nature  of  an  emergency. 
I  refer  to  the  floating  debt,  which  can  be  wiped  out  only  from 
savings,  and  can  be  met  only  by  issuing  scrip.  This  scrip  is  a 
badge  of  disgrace,  and  entails  a  loss  upon  the  corporation  or 
its  employes,  variously  estimated  at  $150,000  and  upward.  In 
past  years  it  has  perhaps   reached   $200,000    to    $300,000  per 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  221 

annum.  Denied  the  right  to  pay  cash,  the  city  is  often  forced 
to  negotiate  with  only  a  few,  who  set  such  prices  upon  their 
wares  as  they  wish.  The  open  market  is  closed  to  Chicago. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  effect  of  this  I  need  only  refer  to  coal 
purchased  last  year  for  the  Water  Department  which  cost  $3.62^ 
per  ton,  while  other  coals,  to  be  paid  for  in  scrip  cost  $4.50  per 
ton.  The  real  difference  between  cash  and  scrip  did  not  exceed 
4  per  cent.,  but  cash  dealers  refused  to  bid.  This  scrip  blot  will 
and  must  rest  upon  us  as  long  as  you  force  expenditures  of  sav- 
ings. High  salaries  of  minor  offices  and  employments  is  the 
bane  of  American  politics  ;  the  city  pays  at  least  50  per  cent, 
more  for  all  ordinary  capacity  than  the  same  could  earn  in  pri- 
vate business.  The  result  is  that  thousands  dance  attendance 
around  the  public  crib  and  demoralize  the  primaries.  The  great 
mass  has  to  eat  the  bread  of  disappointment.  The  longer  the 
waiting  the  more  necessary  the  ultimate  fruition,  and  conse- 
quently the  more  urgent  the  pressure  and  the  more  unscrupu- 
lous the  means  used  to  reach  success.  The  pay  is  too  little 
for  brain,  and  too  much  for  muscle.  The  best  brain  seeks  pri- 
vate fields  for  employment,  where  the  reward  is  measured  by  the 
talent  furnished.  The  state  or  the  municipality  gets  meager 
ability,  or  if  by  chance  it  obtains  real  worth  it  keeps  it  only  so 
long  as  love  of  honor  or  ambition  may  be  gratified,  and  loses  it 
when  experience  has  been  added  to  native  capacity." 

The  ordinance  covering  the  appropriation  bill  for  the  fiscal 
year  as  finally  passed  by  the  Council  authorized  a  tax  levy  of 
$3,899,126.98. 

The  spring  Aldermanic  election  of  1880  was  held  Tuesday, 
April  6,  resulting  as  follows  :  First  Ward,  Swayne  Wickersham, 
Dem.,  992  ;  F.  W.  Warren,  Rep.,  698  ;  Wm.  Clemens,  Ind.,  12  ; 
Second  Ward,  P.  Sanders,  Dem.,  1,074  ;  H.  S.  Billings,  Rep., 
961  ;  George  Schilling,  Socialist,  41;  Third  Ward,  D.  L.  Shorey, 
Rep.,  941  ;  Robert  Law,  Dem.,  367  ;  Fourth  Ward,  W.  W.  Wat- 
kins,  Rep.,  1,140  ;  H.  E.  Mallory,  Dem.,  910  ;  A.  F.  West,  Ind., 
662  ;  R.  Munster,  14  ;  Fifth  Ward,  Edward  P.  Burke,  Dem., 
1,664;  George  Turner,  Rep.,  1,098;  Thomas  Ryan,  Ind.,  643; 
Sixth  Ward,  E.  F.  Cullerton,  Dem.,  967  ;  M.  Baumbrucker,  Ind., 
896;  Wm.  Curran,  Ind.,  766;  Seventh  Ward,  James  H.  Hil- 
dreth,  Dem.,  1,209  •  Jos-  Duffy,  Ind.,  735  ;  F.  Bielfeldt,  Socialist, 
331  ;  James  H.  Gill,  Ind.,  163  ;  Eighth  Ward,  Frank  Lawler, 
Dem.,  1,598;  P.  Rafferty,  Ind.,  450;  M.  Conway,  Ind.,  386; 
A.  L.  Amberg,  Rep.,  358;  George  Krick,  Socialist,  79;  Ninth 
Ward,  John  M.  Smyth,  Rep.,  1,074  I  Jas-  Pratt,  21  ;  W.  Turrell, 


222  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

16  ;  Tenth  Ward,  H.  Schroeder,  Dem.,  444  ;  J.  H.  Cruver,  Rep., 
426;  D.  Nelson,  368  ;  R.  Beck,  101  ;  H.  Ackhoff,  67  ;  Eleventh 
Ward,  Thomas  N.  Bond,  Rep.,  1,206  ;  P.  Ryan,  Dem.,  78  ;  A. 
M.  Glasgow,  12  ;  Twelfth  Ward,  Alvin  Hulbert,  Rep.,  1,421;  R. 
P.  Williams,  1,189;  Thirteenth  Ward,  O.  M.  Brady,  Rep.,  941  ; 
John  E.  Dalton,  Dem.,  877;  C.  G.  Dixon,  Socialist,  110;  Four- 
teenth Ward,  Frank  A.  Stauber,  Socialist,  1,410;  J.  J.  McGrath, 
Rep.,  1,379;  Fifteenth  Ward,  W.  S.  Young,  Rep.,  860;  D. 
Long,  Dem.,  796;  John  R.  Soller,  Socialist,  567;  Sixteenth 
ward,  Anton  Imhoff,  Dem.,  1,046;  Henry  Stahl,  Rep.,  801  ; 
Seventeenth  ward,  John  Murphy,  Dem,  1,039;  P-  Tierney, 
Rep.,  896;  A.  Gould,  y^  ;  Eighteenth  ward,  A.  H.  Burley, 
Rep.,  1,309;  J.  E.  Geohegan,  Dem.,  1,291.  In  this  Aldermanic 
election  the  vote  as  canvassed  of  the  Fourteenth  Ward  gave  J. 
J.  McGrath,  Rep.,  1,379  ;  Frank  A,  Stauber,  Socialist,  1,410. 
The  Seventh  precinct,  was  not  counted  because  of  erasures  by 
the  judges.  No  result  was  declared  by  the  Council  and  a  con- 
test ensued,  Stauber  presenting  the  affidavits  of  116  voters  in 
the  Seventh  precinct  affirming  that  they  voted  for  him.  McGrath 
held  the  seat  for  a  time,  but  Stauber  was  finally  seated.  The 
case  was  a  celebrated  one,  Stauber  securing  legal  victories  over 
McGrath  in  both  the  Circuit  and  Appellate  Courts,  and  McGrath 
then  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court.  March  7,  1881,  when  the 
roll  was  called  in  the  Council  on  various  matters,  Stauber,  who 
was  present  by  advice  of  counsel,  when  the  Fourteenth  ward 
was  reached  each  time,  invariably  demanded  to  have  his  name 
called  by  the  clerk  in  place  of  that  of  McGrath.  Great  disorder 
ensued.  Stauber  was  backed  up  by  the  other  Socialist  Alder- 
men and  a  delegation  of  sympathizers  in  the  lobby,  and  Mc- 
Grath by  his  friends.  At  one  time  a  free  fight  was  narrowly 
averted,  and  the  Socialist  Aldermen  in  high  dudgeon  withdrew 
from  the  Council  chamber  in  a  body.  After  they  retired  Stau- 
ber's  name  was  on  motion  stricken  from  the  rolls.  March  9 
an  opinion  was  rendered  by  Corporation  Counsel  Adams  to  the 
effect  that  after  the  judgment  of  ouster  against  McGrath  in 
the  Circuit  Court  and  the  refusal  of  the  Appellate  Court  to 
grant  him  a  supercedeas,  it  was  Stauber's  due  that  the  Council 
take  some  action  toward  according  him  his  rights.  The  Coun- 
cil thereupon  adopted  a  resolution  rescinding  one  of  July  26, 
1880,  which  seated  McGrath,  and  declaring  Frank  A.  Stauber 
the  duly  elected  Alderman  from  the  Fourteenth  ward. 

Among  the  more  important  appointments  made  by   Mayor 
Harrison  in  1880,  were  those  of  William  J.  McGarigle  as  Gener- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  223 

al  Superintendent  of  Police  ;  Jas.  L.  Allen,  Bernard  Callaghan, 
L.  W.  Kadlec,  and  John  B.  Walker,  Directors  of  the  Public  Li- 
brary ;  J.  C.  Burrows,  M.  J.  Dunne,  Philip  A.  Hoyne,  E.  G. 
Keith,  F.  A.  E.  Maas  and  Conrad  Neihoff,  members  of  the 
Board  of  Education  ;  Enos  Ayres,  Mark  Kimball  and  John  G. 
Shortall,  Appraisers  of  School  Lands;  O.  P.  Ingersoll,  Magis- 
trate ;  Charles  B.  Hefter,  Bailiff,  and  Redmond  Sheridan,  Clerk 
of  the  Southwest  Division  Police  Court ;  M.  A.  La  Buy,  Clerk 
of  the  West  Division  Police  Court;  H.  T.  Howe,  Butter  and 
Cheese  Inspector;  Patrick  H.  Tierney,  Boiler  Inspector.  The 
newly  elected  members  of  the  Council  took  their  seats  May  10. 
Aid.  Ballard  presented  resolutions  declaring  James  H.  Hildreth 
ineligible,  which,  on  motion  of  Aid.  Peevey,  were  laid  on  the  ta- 
ble by  a  vote  of  21  to  9.  Mayor  Harrison  submitted  a  message 
reviewing  the  operations  of  the  various  departments.  Reference 
was  made  to  the  fact  that  the  city  had  reached  a  stage  where  the 
issuance  of  scrip  was  unnecessary,  and  that  its  credit  was  re- 
stored, and  on  a  substantial  footing.  A  financial  exhibit  prepared 
by  Comptroller  Gurney,  and  incorporated  in  the  message,  showed 
$781,000  of  the  bonded  debt,  and  $462,070  of  interest  on 
bonds  to  be  due  July  1,  1880;  back  taxes  collected  during  1879, 
$5,052,414;  taxes  due  and  uncollected,  most  of  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  ultimately  collectable,  $4,322,098.  The  exhibit 
showed  that  the  amount  due  from  David  A.  Gage,  and  still  in- 
cluded in  the  assets,  was  $456,545  ;  due  from  Duncan,  Sherman 
&  Company,  $35,542  ;  amount  of  George  Von  Hollen  defalca- 
tion, $134,085.  Cash  balance  December  31,  1879,  $1,951,386.  Ex- 
penditures during  1879,  on  account  of  old  certificates  of  indebt- 
edness, $249,000  ;  interest  on  same,  $26,643.  Amount  of  funds 
of  1879  expended  on  appropriations  to  March  31,  1880,  $2,247, - 
970.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  message  was  devoted  to  the 
subject  of  street  pavements,  and  the  employment  of  macadam 
was  recommended,  and  also  the  passage  of  an  ordinance  requir- 
ing trucks,  drays,  and  carts  to  have  wide  wheel  tires.  The  good 
management  and  serviceable  condition  of  the  Police  and  Fire  De- 
partments were  referred  to  in  high  terms  of  praise.  The  Public 
Library  was  stated  to  be  in  a  prosperous  and  excellent  condition, 
but  in  pressing  need  of  a  safer,  more  commodious  and  accessible 
building.  A  considerable  saving  in  the  consumption  of  gas  was 
noted  ;  the  sanitary  operations  of  the  Health  Department  were 
shown  to  have  been  carried  out  at  a  total  expense  for  the  year  of 
$53,470.37,  the  death  rate  being  in  the  ratio  of  17.23  to  each 
1,000  of  population.     Three  new  school  buildings  with  a  capacity 


224  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

for  2,640  pupils,  had  been  opened  ;  two  more  would  be  opened 
May  3,  and  two  September  1,  1880;  the  number  of  teachers  em- 
ployed was  895  ;  number  of  pupils  enrolled  nearly  57,000;  in- 
crease for  the  year,  3,446.  The  House  of  Correction  expendi- 
tures had  been  $32,695.92 ;  earnings  over  general  expenses, 
$199.32.  The  Fullerton  Avenue  conduit  had  been  completed 
about  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  had  performed  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  constructed — the  cleaning  out  of  the  North 
Branch.  Complaints  had  been  made  that  the  impurities  were 
drawn  into  the  lake  crib  and  distributed  throughout  the  city  to 
consumers  of  water,  but  the  Mayor  was  satisfied  that  the  impuri- 
ties came  from  the  sewage  emptying  into  the  main  and  South 
Branches  of  the  river,  and  not  from  the  North  Branch. 

The  year  1880  was  full  of  political  interest  for  Chicago,  as 
for  the  rest  of  the  country.  This  city  had  come  to  be  recog- 
nized as  a  great  political  center — the  "City  of  Conventions."  The 
unequaled  hall,  hotel,  railroad  and  telegraph  facilities  offered  by 
Chicago,  made  this  city  the  choice  of  a  majority  of  the  members 
of  the  Republican  National  Committee  as  the  place  for  holding 
the  Seventh  National  Convention  of  the  Republican  party — the 
greatest  ever  held  by  the  party  with  the  possible  exception  of  the 
historical  Convention  which  nominated  the  immortal  Lincoln, 
which  was  held  in  Chicago  twenty-four  years  previously.  The 
efforts  to  secure  this  Convention  for  Chicago  were  inaugurated 
in  the  main  by  James  P.  Root,  member  of  the  National  Com- 
mittee for  Illinois,  and  John  B.  Jeffery.  The  interest  and  influ- 
ence of  other  prominent  citizens  were  eniisted  ;  a  large  delega- 
tion was  sent  to  Washington  to  present  the  claims  and  attrac- 
tions of  Chicago  to  the  National  Committee,  which  met  in  that 
city  December  1  7, 1879.  Members  of  the  National  Committee  rep- 
resenting the  Western  and  Southwestern  states,  were  invited  to 
stop  over  in  Chicago,  when  on  their  way  to  Washington,  that 
they  might  look  over  the  ground  and  see  for  themselves  the  su- 
periority of  the  Garden  City  over  other  cities  as  the  place  for 
holding  the  Convention.  A  special  palace  car  conveyed  the  lo- 
cal delegation  and  their  guests  to  the  national  capital.  The  lo- 
cal delegation  consisted  of  Messrs.  James  P.  Root,  Chairman  ; 
Jno.  B.  Jeffery,  Secretary  and  Treasurer;  C.  B.  Farwell,  Daniel 
Shepherd,  W.  K.  Sullivan  and  C.  A.  Snowdon.  Among  the 
members  of  the  National  Committee  :  Hon.  Elihu  Enos,  of 
Wisconsin  ;  P.  B.  S.  Pinchbeck,  of  Louisiana  ;  John  A.  Martin, 
of  Kansas;  J.  Y.  Stone,  of  Iowa;  Joseph  N.  Carey,  of  Wyom- 
ing ;  Wm.  Rule,  of  Tennessee  ;  Gen.   L.   W.   Heath,  of    Michi- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  225 

gan  ;  Gen.  John  T.  Averill,  of  Minnesota;  G.  M.  Buchanan,  of 
Mississippi;  Newton  Edmunds,  of  Dakota;  E.  W.  Keyes  and 
Gen.  Hazelton,  of  Wisconsin,  and  others.  At  Washington,  the 
headquarters  of  the  Chicago  delegation  were  established  at  the 
Arlington  House,  where  handsome  parlors  and  suites  of  rooms, 
worthy  of  Chicago  and  its  distinguished  guests,  had  previously 
been  engaged.  The  local  delegation  was  ably  assisted,  while  in 
Washington,  by  Senator  John  A.  Logan,  and  Congressmen  Will- 
iam Aldrich,  George  R.  Davis,  Hiram  Barber,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Congressional  delegation  from  Illinois.  The  Con- 
vention was  secured  for  Chicago ;  an  Executive  and  Finance 
Committee  and  sub-committees  of  well-known  citizens  were 
formed,  and  the  magnificent  Convention  hall,  within  the  Exposi- 
tion building,  capable  of  seating  15,000  people,  was  completed, 
at  a  large  outlay  of  time  and  money.  The  Executive  Committee 
was  composed  as  follows  :  Jesse  Spalding,  Chairman;  John  B. 
Jeffery,  Secretary;  William  H.  Bradley,  Treasurer;  Lyman  J. 
Gage,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  ;  Gen.  Wm.  E. 
Strong,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Lumber;  William  E. 
Johnson,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Hardware  ;  Gen.  John 
L.  Beveridge,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Transportation  ; 
Gen.  Anson  Stager,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Telegraphy; 
William  Henry  Smith,  Chairman  of  the  Press  Committee  ;  A.  N. 
Eddy,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Hotel  Accommodations 
and  Music ;  George  M.  Bogue,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Selection  of  Employes;  James  P.  Root,  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Printing,  Decorations  and  Hall.  May  26,  1880,  seven 
days  prior  to  the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  the  Convention 
Chamber  was  turned  over  to  a  sub-Committee  of  the  National 
Committee,  and  upon  the  assembling  of  the  Convention  Gen. 
Wm.  E.  Strong  was  unanimously  elected  Sergeant-at-Arms. 
This  Convention  is  worthy  of  mention  at  length  for  the  reason 
that  it  was  the  great  Convention  of  the  Republican  party,  and 
fairly  inaugurated  the  era  of  conventions  in  Chicago.  The  ef- 
forts of  the  supporters  of  James  G.  Blaine  to  nominate  that 
great  leader  and  to  defeat  the  movement  of  the  Grant  men,  in 
favor  of  the  "Old  Commander;"  the  gallant  stand  of  the  "306"  ; 
the  "Third  Term"  cry;  the  fact  that  Elihu  Washburne  was  made 
an  unwilling  candidate  in  Cook  county  against  Grant,  and  that 
the  bitterest  fight  in  the  Convention  was  caused  by  party  differ- 
ences in  Illinois — all  contribute  to  make  it  of  the  greatest  local 
importance.  It  is  maintained  by  many  politicians  that  the  de- 
feat of    Blaine  and   the   downfall  of   the   Republican    party  four 


226  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

years  later,  can  be  traced  to  the  differences  growing  out  of  this 
Convention,  and  that  Grant  would  have  been  nominated  had 
there  been  no  contest  in  Cook  county.  The  Convention  was 
opened  at  12  o'clock  noon  of  Wednesday,  June  2,  1880,  by  J. 
Donald  Cameron,  Chairman  of  the  Republican  National  Com- 
mittee. During  the  first  day's  proceedings  Gen.  John  A.  Logan 
introduced  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  on  the  distribution  of  tickets 
is  hereby  instructed  to  furnish  each  day  to  the  chairman  of  the 
Veteran  Soldiers'  Association,  five  hundred  tickets  of  admission 
for  distribution  among  the  veteran  Union  soldiers. 

Gen.  Logan : — I  desire  to  say  one  word,  sir,  in  reference  to 
that  resolution.  The  veterans  have  had  a  meeting  in  the  City 
of  Chicago,  and  are  here,  and  have  expected  that  at  least  they 
would  be  treated  as  they  have  been  in  former  national  con- 
ventions. In  1868,  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  I  was  Chairman  of 
the  Veteran  Association,  and  marched  into  the  National  con- 
vention at  the  head  of  these  veterans,  and  that  by  the  invitation 
of  the  National  Republican  convention.  Application  was  made 
to  the  National  Committee  for  their  admission  to  this  Republi- 
can convention,  and  I  am  told,  however,  not  being  a  member  of 
that  committee,  I  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  statement, 
that  it  was  voted  down  in  that  committee.  If  that  be  true,  I  ask 
this  convention  to  do  for  them  that  justice  which  has  been  done 
by  every  other  convention  where  the  application  has  been  made. 
On  looking  around  and  observing  seats  unoccupied  all  day  to- 
day, I  ask,  What  Republican  will  say  that  the  veteran  soldiers, 
many  of  them  wearing  wooden  legs  — the  men  that  saved  your 
nation — should  not  be  furnished  with  tickets  of  admission  to 
this  convention?  It  is  not  for  that  that  I  ask  their  admission  ; 
but  it  is  that  these  men,  who  in  time  of  trial  went  forth  and  saved 
their  country,  and  nine-tenths  of  whom  are  Republicans,  should 
not  be  denied  their  rights.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  wish  to 
complain,  nor  do  I  complain  of  the  National  Committee,  but  sir, 
this  morning  when  I  entered  this  convention,  although  a  delegate- 
at-large  from  Illinois,  I  had  to  enter  it  without  a  ticket  of  admis- 
sion as  a  delegate,  excepting  a  provisional  ticket  given  me  by  a 
man  appointed  by  that  committee.  I  went  to  every  member  of 
that  committee  whom  I  could  find,  and  they  finally  said  that 
they  gave  no  such  instructions.  No  man  questioning  my  right 
to  a  seat  in  this  hall,  I  was  not  permitted  to  enter  this  hall  with 
a.  delegate's  ticket.  I  entered  with  a  ticket  signed  by  James  P. 
Root.      Now,  sir,  I  do  not  say  this  by  way   of  complaint — I   am 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  227 

here  ;  but  I  want  to  see  admitted  these  men  that  have  asked  this 
committee  to  be  permitted  to  look  upon  the  convention.  They 
do  not  desire  to  come  here  to  cheer  for  any  man,  but  ask  merely 
that  they  may  be  permitted,  as  men  who  have  served  their  coun- 
try faithfully,  to  look  upon  this  convention  that  nominates  the 
candidates  for  whom  they  are  asked  to  vote. 

The  resolution  was  seconded  by  Gen.  Kilpatrick,  of  New 
Jersey,  and  was  adopted.  In  regard  to  the  status  of  the  contest 
between  Illinois  delegations  there  were  majority  and  minority 
reports  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials.  The  majority  report 
was  as  follows  : 

Fourth — Illinois.  The  committee  recommend  the  admis- 
sion of  the  following  delegates  and  alternates  within  the  state  of 
Illinois  in  the  place  of  sitting  members : — First  Congressional 
district — William  J.  Campbell,  Elbridge  G.  Keith.  Alternates, 
Arthur  Dixon,  Louis  Hutt ;  Third  Congressional  district — 
Washington  Hesing,  Elliott  Anthony.  Alternates,  George 
Struckman,  John  A.  Mason  ;  Fourth  Congressional  district — 
C.  W.  Marsh,  Lot  B.  Smith.  Alternates,  D.  M.  Marsh,  A. 
C.  Fassett ;  Fifth  Congressional  district — Robert  E.  Logan, 
W.  H.  Holcomb.  Alternates,  J.  H.  Mosier,  J.  S.  Kosier; 
Sixth  Congressional  district — James  K.  Edsafi,  John  P. 
Hand.  Alternates,  L.  J.  Hume,  William  Jackson  ;  Ninth 
Congressional  district — John  A.  Gray,  W.  Seldon  Gale. 
Alternates,  C.  Ballance,  John  Lackey;  Tenth  Congressional  dis- 
trict— Henry  Tubbs,  John  Fletcher.  Alternates,  William  Ven- 
able,  J.  P.  Graham  ;  Thirteenth  Congressional  district — F.  Low, 
E.  D.  Blenn.  Alternates,  R.  D.  Smith,  W.  E.  Gapen  ;  Seven- 
teenth Congressional  district — William  E.  Kueffner,  E.  Guelich. 
Alternates,  H.  M.  Kimball,  C.  W.  Thomas. 

The  committee  rind  that  a  state  convention  was  held  at 
Springfield,  Illinois,  on  the  iothday  of  May,  to  elect  delegates  to 
the  National  convention.  During  the  convention  the  delegates 
from  each  of  the  foregoing  Congressional  districts  assembled  and 
organized  district  conventions,  and  elected  two  delegates  and  two 
alternates  to  the  Chicago  convention,  by  a  clear  majority  of 
all  the  delegates  elected  to  the  state  convention,  in  each  of  said 
districts,  as  is  shown  by  the  credentials  accompanying  this  report. 
The  state  convention,  by  means  of  a  committee  of  one  from  each 
Congressional  district,  selected,  and  afterward  assumed  to  elect, 
forty-two  delegates  to  the  National  convention,  including  the 
sitting  members  from  the  foregoing  districts,  the  delegates  from 
each  of  which  filed  in  the  state  convention,  protests  against  said 
elections  by  the  state  convention. 


228  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Fifth — The  Committee  report  against  the  validity  of  the 
contest  in  the  Second  district  of  Illinois,  of  the  seats  of  sitting 
members,  A.  M.  Wright  and  R.  S.  Tuthill. 

Sixth — The  Committee  report  against  the  objections  to  the 
seats  of  the  four  delegates-at-large  from  Illinois. 

MINORITY   REPORT. 

With  reference  to  the  state  of  Illinois,  the  minority  respect- 
fully submit  to  this  convention,  and  through  the  convention  to 
the  country,  the  following  conclusions  : 

"It  was  understood,  when  notice  was  given  of  this  contest 
in  the  Convention,  that  the  contest  related  merely  to  delegates 
in  the  First,  Second,  Third,  Fourth,  Fifth,  Sixth,  Ninth,  Tenth, 
Thirteenth  and  Seventeenth  Congressional  districts  ;  but  upon 
the  assembling  of  the  Committee  a  memorial  was  presented  to 
it,  very  general  in  its  character,  signed  by  the  contesting  dele- 
gates and  their  alternates,  challenging  the  rightfulness  of  the 
entire  delegation,  and  to  this  general  memorial,  in  which  this 
general  challenge  is  embodied,  we  first  address  ourselves.  The 
leading  feature  of  that  memorial  maybe  stated  to  be  a  very  vehe- 
ment and  sweeping  denunciation  of  the  State  convention  for  the 
state  of  Illinois,  held  at  Springfield  on  the  19th  day  of  May; 
sweeping  and  vehement  charges  of  unfairness  on  the  part  of  its 
presiding  officers ;  sweeping  and  vehement  assertions  of  a  con- 
spiracy formed  prior  to  the  convention,  to  perpetrate,  through 
the  action  of  the  convention,  a  fraud  upon  the  Republican  electors 
of  the  state  of  Illinois. 

"Of  these  charges  so  positively  made,  not  one  syllable  of 
proof  has  been  adduced  before  the  committee.  We  cannot  re- 
gard the  unsupported  declarations  of  these  contesting  delegates 
as  furnishing  even  the  slightest  proof  satisfactory  to  us,  or  to  the 
convention,  or  to  the  country,  of  the  truth  of  the  charges  which 
they  make.  *  *  *  Not  a  syllable  of  evidence  was  adduced, 
and  an  examination  of  the  record  of  the  proceedings  of  that  con- 
vention, so  far  from  furnishing  any  evidence  on  which  to  base 
these  charges,  in  our  judgment  completely  and  decisively  refutes 
them. 

"  It  is  asserted  in  the  memorial  to  which  we  have  referred 
that  an  agreement  was  entered  into  on  Sunday,  the  9th  day  of 
May,  to  'bolt'  the  county  convention  held  in  Cook  county.  No 
evidence  of  any  such  agreement  has  been  furnished  to  us,  nor  to 
the  committee,  although  during  the  session  of  the  committee  a 
call  was  made  by  the  representatives  of  the  seated  delegates  for 
the  production  of  such  evidence,  if  any  existed.     The  memorial 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  229 

neglects  to  state  what  clearly  and  conclusively  appears  to  be  the 
fact,  that  not  only  was  there  no  'bolt'  premeditated,  but  that 
there  was  none  in  point  of  fact.  We  deem  it  unnecessary  to 
enter  into  the  details  of  either  the  Cook  county  convention  or  of 
the  primary  election  which  preceded  the  meeting  of  that  conven- 
tion. *  *  *  It  appears  that  the  Republican  State  Commit- 
tee of  the  state  of  Illinois,  in  1876,  adopted  for  Cook  county 
the  plan  of  having  its  delegates  vote  in  said  convention,  not  as  a 
county,  but  by  Senatorial  districts.  Within  the  territorial  boun- 
daries of  Cook  county  there  are  seven  Senatorial  districts  from 
the  First  to  the  Seventh,  both  included.  In  State  convention 
these  Senatorial  districts  vote  as  such,  and  the  county,  as  a 
county,  is  not  known.  Notwithstanding  the  gross  frauds  prac- 
ticed at  the  primaries  at  those  elections,  the  delegates  known  as 
the  Grant  delegates  carried  three  Senatorial  districts,  the  First, 
Third  and  Fourth;  and  had  a  positive  and  decided  majority  in  the 
Second.  This  entitled  them  to  thirty-six  delegates  to  the  State  con- 
vention, that  being  the  number  of  delegates  to  which  those  Sena- 
torial districts  were  entitled  to  vote.  These  primaries  were 
held  on  Saturday,  the  8th  of  May,  and  it  appears  in  the  issue  of 
the  daily  papers  on  Sunday,  the  Chicago  Tribune  among  the 
number,  the  right  of  these  thirty-six  delegates  was  not  even  ques- 
tioned, but  during  that  day  a  scheme  was  concocted  in  violation 
of  all  the  precedents  and  traditions  of  the  party  in  Cook  county, 
to  smother  these  Senatorial  districts,  to  deny  them  the  right  to 
select  their  own  delegates,  and  to  send  a  solid  'anti-Grant'  del- 
egation to  Springfield,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  when  the 
call  for  Cook  county  was  reached,  these  Senatorial  districts  were 
independently  called.  This  corrupt  and  dishonest  scheme  was 
proclaimed  by  the  public  press  in  the  city  of  Chicago  on  Monday 
morning,  and  a  full  history  of  the  conference  which  led  to  it  given 
in  the  Chicago  Tribune.  Mr.  Horace  M.  Singer,  whose  integ- 
rity seems  to  be  unquestioned,  a  steadfast  and  life-long  Republi- 
can, is  chairman  of  the  Cook  County  Central  Committee,  and  as 
such  chairman  it  devolved  upon  him  to  call  the  convention  to 
order.  With  the  utmost  fairness  this  he  proceeded  to  do,  after 
having  consulted  with  various  gentlemen,  representing  all  inter- 
ests, as  to  the  policy  he  should  adopt.  He  decided  to  himself  as 
presiding  officer,  in  effecting  a  temporary  organization,  to  place 
in  nomination  Mr.  George  Struckman,  a  well-known  citizen  and 
a  prominent  '  Washburne  '  delegate.  Calling  the  convention  to 
order,  he  proceeded  to  nominate  Mr.  Struckman.  He  was  at 
once  interrupted,  was  unable  to  be  heard  ;  a  scene  of  great  con- 


23O  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

fusion  ensued.  Some  one  in  the  body  of  the  hall  proceeded  to 
make  another  nomination,  which  was  declared  carried.  Mr.  Singer 
was  violently  hustled  from  his  position,  but  returned,  and  beseech- 
ing order,  announcing,  as  he  himself,  and  as  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
in  its  detailed  report  of  the  proceedings  of  this  convention  states, 
his  desire  only  to  submit  the  name  of  Mr.  Struckman  to  the  con 
vention  for  its  action  ;  but  utterly  unable  to  secure  order,  and  as 
Mr.  Singer  declares,  the  proceedings  being  so  riotous  and  tumult- 
uous that  no  business  could  be  conducted,  declared  the  conven- 
tion adjourned  to  meet  at  the  Palmer  house  club  rooms.  The 
fact  that  Mr.  Singer  declared  this  convention  adjourned  is  stud- 
iously and  steadily  ignored  by  the  contestants  and  their  repre- 
sentatives, but  the  fact  exists  nevertheless,  and  upon  this  point 
we  submit  the  statement  made  by  Mr.  Singer  himself.  It  is  absurd 
to  call  these  proceedings  thus  far  the  result  of  any  premeditation  ; 
there  was  no  conspiracy  whatever,  except  the  conspiracy  which 
the  Chicago  Tribune  promulgated  to  stifle  the  voice  of  three 
Senatorial  districts  in  that  convention,  and  to  deprive  them  of 
their  riofht  to  the  selection  of  delegates  to  the  State  convention. 
At  the  close  of  the  description  of  this  conspiracy  thus  to  stifle 
the  voice  of  three  Senatorial  districts,  the  Chicago  Tribune  in 
its  article  already  referred  to,  says  :  '  In  the  appointment  of  this 
committee,  the  business  of  the  morning  was  ended,  so  far  as  pre- 
liminaries were  concerned,  and  the  delegates  marched  through 
the  pouring  rain  to  Farwell  hall,  where  the  scalping  was  expected 
to  commence  at  10  o'clock  sharp.'  This  is  all  the  conspiracy,  and 
the  only  conspiracy,  of  the  existence  of  which  any  proof  was 
offered  to  this  committee.  Upon  the  adjournment  of  the  con- 
vention by  Mr.  Singer,  a  large  body  of  delegates  repaired,  pur- 
suant to  the  adjournment,  to  the  club  rooms  of  the  Palmer 
house,  where  they  were  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Singer,  and  an 
organization  was  effected.  Ninety-two  delegates  were  selected 
by  Senatorial  districts,  and  upon  the  assembling  of  the  State 
convention  appeared  there,  contesting  the  right  of  the  so-called 
'  Farwell  hall '  delegation.  The  fragment  left  of  the  '  Farwell 
hall '  convention  proceeded  to  its  work,  threw  out  the  regularly 
elected  delegates  from  the  Twelfth  ward,  thus  securing  a  major- 
ity of  the  Second  Congressional  district;  seated  the  fraudulently 
elected  delegates  of  the  First  ward,  thus  securing  another  Con- 
gressional district ;  selected  their  ninety-two  delegates  to  Spring- 
field, and  it  is  proper  to  remark,  selected  their  delegates  by  Sen- 
atorial districts,  the  result  being  that  the  delegates  from  the  First, 
Third  and  Fourth  Senatorial  districts  were  selected  by  the  dele- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  23  I 

gates  from  the  other  Senatorial  districts, thus  recognizing  the  call  of 
the  State  convention,  and  thus  recognizing  clearly  and  emphat- 
ically the  right  of  each  Senatorial  district  to  elect  its  own  delegates. 
Appearing  before  the  State  convention,  the  State  Central  Commit- 
tee, recognizing  the  contest,  gave  to  both  delegations  the  privi- 
lege of  seats  in  the  gallery  of  the  convention  hall.  A  Committee 
on  Credentials  was  selected,  composed  of  one  from  each  Con- 
gressional district,  to  which  committee  the  whole  question  was 
submitted,  and  three  reports  were  made,  one  recommending  the 
seating  of  fifty-six  of  the  '  Farwell  hall'  delegates,  and  thirty-six 
of  the  '  Palmer  house' delegation  ;  another  recommending  the 
seating  of  the  entire  '  Palmer  house'  delegation,  upon  which  no 
action  was  taken  by  the  convention;  and  a  third  recommending  the 
seating  of  the  entire  'Farwell  hall'  delegation.  There  certainly  was 
no  effort  to  stifle  discussion  on  this  contest  before  the  Committee 
on  Credentials  in  the  State  convention.  That  committee  had  the 
question  under  consideration  for  nearly  a  day  and  a  half  before 
submitting  these  reports.  Upon  the  presentation  of  these  re- 
ports to  the  State  convention  time  was  allotted  to  each  side  there 
represented  to  present  its  case  through  its  own  chosen  represent- 
atives, and  both  sides  were  fully  and  thoroughly  heard.  First, 
upon  the  report  recommending  the  seating  of  the  entire  Farwell 
hall  delegation,  which  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  eighty,  which 
has  been  erroneously  stated  to  be  a  majority  of  only  thirty-eight. 
The  question  then  came  up  on  the  report  recommending  the  ad- 
mission of  fifty-six  of  the  Farwell  hall  delegation,  and  thirty-six 
of  the  Palmer  house  delegation,  which  was  adopted  by  the  con- 
vention by  a  majority  of  eighty ;  whereupon  the  admitted  dele- 
gates immediately  took  their  seats  in  the  convention,  and  par- 
ticipated in  all  the  subsequent  proceedings.  A  permanent  or- 
ganization being  effected,  a  resolution  was  offered  that  the  dele- 
gates to  the  National  convention  be  selected  by  a  committee  of 
one  from  each  Congressional  district,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
chair.  This  motion  led  to  long  and  animated  discussions,  con- 
suming many  hours,  and  was  finally  adopted  by  a  positive  major- 
ity. The  chair  named  a  committee,  and  that  committee  recom- 
mended as  delegates  to  the  National  convention  the  re-seated 
delegates,  selecting  two  from  each  Congressional  district  pur- 
suant to  the  call  of  the  National  Committee,  and  four  delegates 
from  the  state  at  large.  Upon  the  motion  to  adopt  the  report 
of  that  committee  discussion  was  had,  and  the  report  was 
adopted  by  a  decisive  and  positive  majority.  All  the  delegates 
thus  selected,   and  whose  selection  was   thus   reviewed  and  in- 


232  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

dorsed  by  the  action  of  the  State  convention,  appear  before  this 
convention  with  their  credentials  regularly  signed  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary  of  the  State  convention.  The  names  of  no 
other  delegates  were  submitted  to  that  convention  for  its  action, 
and  we  can  only  know  that  other  delegates  were  selected  in  any 
other  form  by  the  statements  which  have  been  made  before  the 
committee,  for  it  is  conceded  upon  all  hands  that,  whatever  other 
selections  of  delegates  may  have  been  made,  such  selections 
were  never  presented  to  the  convention  for  its  action,  and  no  re- 
port of  such  selections  was  ever  made,  or  evidence  furnished  to 
the  State  convention,  save  such  as  may  be  embodied  in  the  pro- 
tests filed  by  these  various  Congressional  districts  as  the  conven- 
tion was  about  closing  its  deliberations." 

Then  followed  a  copy  of  the  call  for  the  State  Convention 
with  comments  thereon,  and  citations  of  many  precedents  in  the 
history  of  party  usage  in  Illinois,  the  report  concluding : — We 
cannot  recognke  the  action  of  the  minority,  even  when  it  is  tak- 
en separately  and  in  detail,  and  we  are  confident  in  the  belief 
that  this  Convention  can  take  no  step  more  certain  to  lead  to  the 
most  disastrous  results  in  the  future  than  the  denial  to  the  Re- 
publican electors  of  the  state  of  Illinois  of  the  right  of  a  majori- 
ty of  those  electors  to  express  in  this  Convention  their  will,  and 
in  their  fashion,  and  through  their  selected  agents.  Thus  confi- 
dently believing,  we  respectfully  submit  to  this  Convention,  and 
through  the  Convention  to  the  country,  that  the  regularly  elect- 
ed and  now  seated  delegates,  should  retain  their  seats  in  this 
body.      All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

The  question  occurred  upon  the  division  of  the  report, 
and  was  debated  as  to  all  the  states  presenting  contests.  Gen. 
Greene  B.  Raum,  Elliott  Anthony,  and  Emory  A.  Storrs  were 
heard  upon  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  the  majority  report 
relating  to  Illinois. 

Gen.  Raum,  of  Illinois. — Mr.  President:  I  rise  on  behalf 
of  the  sitting  delegates,  whose  seats  the  majority  report,  if  adopt- 
ed, will  vacate,  and  confer  upon  other  gentlemen.  My  disting- 
uished friend  who  has  taken  his  seat,  has  been  vehement  in  pre- 
senting what  he  understands  to  be  the  traditions  and  laws  of  the 
Republican  party  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  in  respect  to  the  selec- 
tion of  delegates  to  the  National  convention  of  the  United 
States.  I  say  to  you,  Mr.  President,  and  to  the  honorable  gen- 
tlemen of  this  Convention,  that  the  sitting  delegates  from  the 
state  of  Illinois  are  willing  to  rest  their  rights  upon  the  law  of 
this  case,  and  upon  the  precedents  which  have  been  established 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  233 

by  long  usage  of  the  party  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  We  are  here, 
Sir,  asking  for  justice.  We  ask  for  nothing  more.  We  expect 
that  gentlemen,  when  they  come  to  vote  upon  this  great  ques- 
tion, will  not  be  biased  by  the  interests  of  their  respective  candi- 
dates, but  treat  this  question  in  a  dispassionate,  fair-minded  and 
just  manner.  It  has  been  well  said  by  various  gentlemen  who 
have  addressed  this  Convention,  that  there  is  not  to-day,  and 
never  has  been,  a  uniform  rule  in  all  the  states  in  respect  to  the 
selection  of  delegates  in  the  National  convention.  Whenever 
a  uniform  rule  shall  be  adopted  by  the  authoritative  declarations 
of  the  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  the  Republicans  of 
Illinois  will  cheerfully  acquiesce  in  that  rule  ;  but  I  say  to  you, 
Mr.  President,  as  is  said  in  this  minority  report,  that  we  do  not 
wish  to  be  subjected  to  an  expost  facto  rule — a  rule  adopted  after 
the  facts.  We  want  this  case  tried  by  the  law  as  it  exists  to- 
day, that  law  having  been  established  by  the  usages  of  the  Re- 
publican party  since  1856.  I  say  to  the  distinguished  gentleman 
from  Michigan  (Mr.  Conger)  that  he  is  in  error  in  regard  to 
his  facts.  1  say  to  him  that  there  is  an  unbroken  line  of  prece- 
dents in  the  state  of  Illinois,  to  the  effect  that  the  state  conven- 
tions from  time  immemorial  have  selected  the  delegates,  in- 
structed the  delegates,  and  sent  them  to  the  Republican  National 
conventions  of  this  country.  Why,  Mr.  President,  the  usage  of 
both  of  the  parties  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  has  been  the  same  for 
the  last  forty  years,  and  to  my  individual  knowledge — for,  Sir, 
I  was  born  and  raised  in  this  great  state,  and  to  my  certain 
knowledge  since  1852,  no  convention — Whig,  Democratic,  or 
Republican — sending  delegates  to  the  National  conventions  in 
this  country,  have  acted  otherwise  than  through  a  state  conven- 
tion. I  assert  it  as  a  fact  that  cannot  be  controverted,  that  there 
never  was  a  district  convention  held  in  the  state  of  Illinois  to 
select  a  delegate  to  a  National  convention. 

"Gentlemen  may  say  that  the  committee  of  a  State  convention, 
going  out  under  the  instructions  of  that  convention  to  perform 
certain  duties,  are  Congressional  conventions.  I  deny  the  state- 
ment in  toto.  What  constitutes  a  convention?  What  are  the 
preliminary  steps  which  lead  to  the  organization  of  a  convention? 
Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  convention  meeting  in  the  state  of  Illi- 
nois unless  there  was  a  call  issued  for  that  convention  ?  Think, 
if  you  please,  of  a  convention  meeting,  electing,  instructing  those 
delegates,  and  sending  them  to  a  national  convention,  unless 
there  was  a  call  for  that  convention.  Mr.  President,  the  call 
under  which  the  sitting  delegates  were  selected  was  a  call  for  a 


234  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

state  convention.  The  Republicans  in  the  various  counties  of 
the  state  of  Illinois  were  requested  to  send  delegates  to  a  state 
convention,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  state  officers,  for  the 
purpose  of  sending  delegates  to  the  National  convention,  for  the 
purpose  of  selecting  electors,  and  creating  a  State  Republican 
Central  Committee.  This  has  been  the  practice  in  the  state  of 
Illinois  since  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party.  In  i860, 
when  Lincoln,  of  sainted  memory,  was  presented  by  the  Repub- 
licans of  Illinois  for  the  suffrages  of  the  people  of  this  country, 
the  delegates  were  selected  by  a  state  convention,  and  I  had  the 
following  resolution  adopted: — 'Resolved,  That  Abraham  Lin- 
coln is  the  choice  of  the  Republican  party  of  Illinois  for  the 
Presidency,  and  the  delegates  from  this  state  are  instructed  to 
use  all  honorable  means  to  secure  his  nomination  by  the  Chicago 
convention,  and  vote  as  a  unit  for  him.  And  the  said  delegates 
shall  have  power  to  fill  all  the  vacancies.'  Mr.  President,  we 
have  recognized  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  man  possessed  of  some 
little  political  sense  and  experience.  There  is  the  resolution, 
under  which  the  Republican  delegates  sent  to  the  National  con- 
vention, acted  when  Abraham  Lincoln  was  nominated  in  i860. 
In  1864  the  delegates  were  selected  in  the  same  way,  by  a  state 
convention,  and  a  similar  resolution  was  passed,  instructing  the 
delegates  to  that  convention  to  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln 
as  a  unit.  In  1868,  when  the  Republican  convention  of  this  state 
met  at  Peoria,  I  happened  to  be  a  delegate  to  that  convention. 
I  was  on  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  and  I  assisted  in  the 
preparations  of  the  letter  of  instructions  to  those  delegates. 
Those  delegates  were  selected  by  the  State  convention.  They 
took  their  instructions  from  the  State  convention,  and  went  to 
the  National  convention,  and  assisted  in  the  nomination  of 
Ulysses  S.  Grant.  And  how  were  those  delegates  selected? 
They  were  not  selected  otherwise  than  by  a  committee  ;  a  com- 
mittee selected  under  the  orders  of  the  convention  composed  of 
one  delegate  from  each  Congressional  district  in  the  state  ;  they 
retired  ;  they  considered  of  the  subject  intrusted  to  their  care, 
and  they  reported  the  necessary  delegates,  and  their  report  was 
received  by  the  convention,  and  was  adopted.  How  was  it  in 
1872  ?  I  state  these  facts,  Mr.  President,  from  actual  knowledge, 
because  I  was  a  delegate  at  these  conventions.  In  1872  Ulysses 
S.  Grant  was  again  presented  by  Illinois  to  the  suffrages  of  the 
people  of  this  country.  I  had  the  honor  of  penning  the  letter  of 
instructions  to  the  delegates  to  use  all  honorable  means  and  vote 
as  a  unit  for  Ulysses  S.  Grant.     How  were  the  delegates  se- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  235 

lected  ?  They  were  selected  in  1872  by  a  committee.  That 
committee  was  raised  under  the  orders  of  the  convention — one 
member  from  each  Congressional  district.  They  reported  the 
names  of  the  delegates  ;  that  report  was  received  by  the  con- 
vention, and  it  was  ratified,  and  those  delegates  performed  the 
duties  with  which  they  were  intrusted.  *  *  *  Why,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, the  fact  that  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  have  always  and 
everywhere  claimed  the  right  to  instruct  their  delegates  is  con- 
clusive evidence  that  they  also  claim  the  right  of  selecting  dele- 
gates that  would  obey  their  instructions.  What  was  the  issue  in 
■the  Springfield  convention  ?  When  we  went  down  to  Spring- 
field, we  found  a  minority  in  that  convention  who  were  threaten- 
ing up  and  down  the  streets  of  that  city,  and  through  the  corri- 
dors of  the  hotels,  that  unless  we  conducted  the  affairs  of  that  con- 
vention according  to  their  will  and  pleasure,  they  would  bolt  the 
convention.  There  was  an  issue.  The  majority  of  that  con- 
vention was  in  favor  of  selecting  delegates  to  support  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  and  the  minority  of  that  convention  told  us  in  the  con- 
vention itself,  in  the  course  of  debate,  that  they  would  not  obey 
the  instructions  that  that  convention  might  give  them,  to  vote 
for  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

"When  Abraham  Lincoln  sitting  at  the  capitpl  of  the  state 
of  Illinois,  had  his  friends  to  instruct  the  delegates  to  vote  for 
him  as  a  unit ;  when,  at  the  second  term,  the  same  course  was 
pursued;  when,  in  1868,  the  same  course  was  pursued,  when  in 
1872  the  same  course  was  pursued  in  regard  to  instructions,  you 
have  a  line  of  precedents  which  conclusively  shows  that  the  Re- 
publicans of  the  state  of  Illinois  have  at  all  times  claimed,  in 
convention  assembled,  to  hold  in  their  hands  the  authority  of 
selecting  delegates  to  carry  out  their  will.  When  the  majority 
at  Springfield  found  that  the  minority  selected  as  delegates  to 
this  convention  would  disobey  their  instructions,  they  concluded, 
and  rightly  concluded,  to  give  expression  to  the  great  majority  of 
the  Republicans  of  the  state  of  Illinois  by  selecting  delegates  who 
would  carry  out  the  will  of.  the  Republicans  of  Illinois.  These 
delegates  come  here  to-day.  They  occupy  these  seats.  They  are 
regular  delegates.  They  represent  the  great  voice  of  the  Republi- 
cans of  the  state  of  Illinois.  I  ask  you,  Mr.  President,  and  I  ask 
honorable  gentlemen  of  this  convention,  and  I  wish  them  to  take  it 
deep  into  their  hearts  this  night,  whether  by  revolutionary  means 
inaugurated  after  the  fact,  they  propose  to  put  these  eighteen  dele- 
gates out  by  adopting  an  expostfacto  law  in  their  case.  Why,  Mr. 
President,  we  have  been  told  by  the  honorable  chairman  of  the 


236  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Committee  on  Credentials  that  there  were  fifty  contests  here  in  this 
National  convention.  Why  these  contests?  Why  is  it  that  from 
one  end  of  this  country  to  the  other  you  find  that  there  are  con- 
tests for  seats  in  this  National  convention  ?  I  will  tell  you,  Mr. 
President,  why.  It  is  because  you  are  seeking  to  invade,  to  over- 
turn and  destroy,  the  ordinary  methods  of  the  Republican  party 
in  these  states.  I  say  to  you  that  these  are  revolutionary  meas- 
ures. This  convention  can  turn  these  eighteen  delegates  out ; 
you  have  the  power  to  do  it,  but  I  say  to  you,  that  if  this  revo- 
lutionary spirit  is  carried  forward  another  four  years,  the  hour  has 
struck  for  the  destruction  and  overthrow  of  the  Republican 
party.  I  will  support  your  candidate,  I  will  go  forward  and  ask 
the  people  of  Illinois  to  support  him  ;  but  I  warn  you,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, and  I  warn  you  gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  that  the  Re- 
publican party  cannot  stand  such  a  strain  another  four  years. 
We  ask  these  delegates  in  the  National  convention  assembled, 
to  do  us  justice.  We  ask  them  to  administer  the  law,  and  I  have 
stated  the  law.  We  are  willing  to  learn  from  New  England. 
We  are  willing  to  learn  from  adjacent  states.  We  are  willing  to 
be  taught  our  A  B  C's  in  politics.  I  have  been  in  politics  now 
these  thirty  years,  and  I  find  that  I  do  not  know  anything  about 
it.  I  find  that  the  whole  thing  is  to  be  learned  over  again.  I 
find  that  if  a  State  convention  meets,  and  nobody  objects,  why 
then  they  can  send  delegates  to  a  National  convention.  But  if 
somebody  gets  into  one  corner  of  a  hotel,  and  gathers  two  or 
three  around  him,  and  files  a  protest,  and  comes  with  credentials, 
and  says,  'Here  was  a  district  convention,  and  you  must  not 
stifle  the  voice  of  a  district  convention,'  then  your  State  con- 
vention is  of  no  validity.  [A  voice  from  the  gallery,  Is  that  your 
experience  at  the  Palmer  house]  ? 

Gen.  Raum. — "The  gentleman  in  the  gallery  has  alluded  to 
the  Palmer  house.  That  is  not  pertinent  to  this  inquiry.  But, 
Mr.  President,  it  seems  to  excite  some  curiosity,  and  it  would 
seem  from  what  has  just  passed  that  I  would  be  afraid  to  speak 
of  the  Palmer  house.  I  have  no  fears  of  alluding  to  what 
occurred  here  in  Cook  county  some  few  weeks  ago.  I  do  not 
live  in  Cook  county.  I  live  350  miles  south  of  Cook  county.  I 
have  nothing  to  do  with  broils  in  politics  here  ;  but  there  is 
one  important  feature  in  this  Cook  county  affair  that  does 
not  seem  to  be  understood  by  the  gentlemen  who  have  come 
up  to  this  convention  from  a  distance.  When  the  primary 
elections  were  held  in  the  county  of  Cook,  and  in  the  great  city 
of  Chicago,  it  was  found  that  that  candidate  that  lives  in  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  237 

northeastern  corner  of  this  nation  was  unable  to  carry  Cook 
county  against  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to 
drag  another  name  into  that  race  against  his  consent,  and  to 
drag  him  into  that  race  in  a  manner  that  is  calculated  to  cause 
those  who  are  not  his  friends  to  say  that  it  was  an  ungracious 
act,  and  an  act  of  ingratitude  ;  and  they  did  this  for  the  purpose 
of  uniting  all  elements  against  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  Why,  Mr. 
President,  when  this  popular  uprising  we  have  heard  so  much  talk 
about  occurred,  one-fourth  of  the  votes  were  cast — just  one-fourth 
of  the  votes — and  Ulysses  S.  Grant  beat  James  G.  Blaine  about 
two  thousand.  [A  delegate — Three  thousand.]  Three  thousand  ; 
and  he  beat  E.  B.  Washburne  by  a  large  majority.  Why,  if  the 
ninety-two  delegates  had  been  voted  for  at  large  in  the  county 
of  Cook,  every  one  of  them  would  have  been  elected  as  Grant 
delegates — every  one  of  them.  They  would  have  been  elected 
according  to  the  poll  that  was  made  at  that  election.  And 
when  the  returns  came  in  it  was  found  that  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
had  a  large  majority  in  three  of  the  Senatorial  districts.  *  *  * 
Now,  Mr.  President,  when  these  contesting  delegates  went  down  to 
the  city  of  Springfield  they  were  met  by  six  hundred  dispassionate 
men  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  contest.  They  sat  upon  that 
contest  two  days,  and  laying  aside  the  form  of  that  county  con- 
vention, but  looking  to  the  substance  of  primary  electjon,  they 
gave  to  these  parties  the  number  of  delegates  they  were  entitled 
to  according  to  the  votes  that  were  cast  at  that  primary  election. 
Why,  my  distinguished  friend  here  [Mr.  Conger]  stickles,  se- 
verely stickles,  to  have  delegates  close  up  to  the  people.  Here 
were  delegates  that  were  close  to  the  people.  Here  were  dele- 
gates which  by  the  voice  of  three  Senatorial  districts  in  the 
county  of  Cook  were  chosen  by  the  great  majority  of  the  people 
of  these  districts.  Much  has  been  said  of  the  action  of  that  State 
convention,  Mr.  President.  I  was  not  a  delegate  to  that  conven- 
tion. I  visited  Springfield  on  business  and  to  look  at  the  pro- 
ceedings of  that  convention.  I  have  attended  nearly  all  the 
conventions  in  this  state  since  the  war.  After  two  days  in  that 
great  mass  of  excited  men  it  was  believed  that  I  would  be  able 
better  to  control  these  elements  than  any  other  gentleman  there. 
I  undertook  that  duty,  and  I  performed  it  as  well  as  I  could  with 
my  inexperience  as  a  presiding  officer.  I  did  justice  as  I  saw  it. 
I  tried  to  do  justice  to  every  man  in  that  convention. 
But,  sir,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  was  a  very  excit- 
ing convention.  It  lasted  three  days  and  two  nights.  We  had 
one  continuous  session  from  seven  in  the  afternoon  until  nearly 


238  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

two  at  night,  which  was  filled  with  debate,  and  excited  debate  at 
that.  Laying  aside  that  convention,  Mr.  President,  I  come  again 
to  state  to  these  delegates  of  the  National  convention  that  we 
want  you  to  do  us  justice  ;  and  in  doing  us  justice  you  will  leave 
those  eighteen  men  in  their  seats." 

The  President. — The  Chair  informs  the  Convention  that 
Mr.  Elliott  Anthony,  a  contestant  from  the  Third  Congressional 
district,  desires  to  occupy  a  portion  of  the  time  assigned  to  that 
side  of  the  question.  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee  on  both 
sides  agree  to  that.  Is  there  objections?  The  Chair  hears 
none. 

Mr.  Anthony. — Mr.  President:  I  do  not,  in  the  short  space 
of  time  that  I  shall  occupy  here,  intend  to  travel  over  the  ground 
covered  by  the  gentleman  who  just  preceded  me,  but  shall  confine 
myself  to  the  question  before  the  Convention.  That  question 
as  I  understand  it,  is,  What  has  been  the  practice  of  the  Republi- 
can party  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  in  selecting  their  delegates  to 
the  National  convention?  This  is  a  question,  Mr.  President, 
that  is  to  be  determined,  and  ought  to  be  determined  without 
any  reference  to  the  bearing  it  may  have  upon  the  distinguished 
soldier  that  was  referred  to  by  one  of  the  sitting  delegates  from 
Illinois,  and  without  any  reference  to  the  bearing  it  may  have 
upon  the,  distinguished  statesman  that  has  been  referred  to  by 
other  gentlemen  here  ;  but  it  must  be  decided  on  the  facts  of 
this  case,  and  as  I  say  again,  in  accord  with  the  practice.  Now, 
what  has  been  the  practice  in  this  state  ?  The  gentleman  that 
preceded  me,  as  I  understood  him,  laid  down  the  doctrine  that  it 
was  the  State  conventions  that  elected  the  delegates  to  the  Na- 
tional convention.  I  wish  here  in  my  place  to  deny  it  as  a  ques- 
tion of  fact ;  and  I  meet  it  fairly  and  squarely  by  saying  that 
never  in  the  history  of  the  state  of  Illinois  were  the  delegates  to 
the  National  convention  ever  selected  by  anybody,  except  by 
conventions  of  the  Congressional  districts.  I  repeat  it  again  in 
the  most  emphatic  manner,  and  if  the  gentleman  meant  what  he 
said,  he  stands  before  the  public  and  the  people  of  Illinois  as  a 
perverter  of  history.  This  is  no  time  to  mince  words  over  a 
question  of  this  character,  and  I  am  emphatic  upon  this,  particu- 
larly so  because  I  understood  from  the  distinguished  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Boutwell)  who  has  introduced  a  reso- 
lution here,  that  he  was  in  favor  of  having  delegates  selected  and 
organized  in  the  way  and  manner  that  the  precedents  of  the  par- 
ty had  been  for  years  in  the  past. 

Now,  the  first  Republican  convention  that  was  called  in  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  239 

state  of  Illinois,  was  in  1856.  The  resolution  that  was  intro- 
duced upon  that  subject  was  by  a  distinguished  gentleman  that 
occupies  a  seat  in  the  First  Congressional  district  here  to-day. 
The   Honorable  John  Wentworth  introduced  this  resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  the  delegates  in  attendance  from  the  several 
Congressional  districts  be  requested  to  suggest  the  name  of  one 
person  from  each  Congressional  district  for  Presidential  Electors, 
and  three  persons  for  delegates  to  the  National  convention  : 
and  that  a  committee  of  nine,  consisting  of  one  from  each  Con- 
gressional district,  be  appointed  by  the  Chair,  to  recommend 
two  such  electors,  and  six  delegates  for  the  state-at-large. 

Take  the  next  record  and  follow  it  down  to  the  present  time. 
I  wish  to  state  to  the  gentlemen  here,  that;  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  state  of  Illinois  was  there  a  committee  ap- 
pointed upon  motion  of  any  gentlemen  upon  the  floor,  and  it  was 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  party  that  the  distinguished 
gentleman  that  spoke  here  a  moment  ago  took  out  of  his  pocket 
himself  a  list  of  the  committees  without  their  being  suggested  by 
the  various  Congressional  districts  in  the  state.  What  are  the  facts 
in  this  case,  as  shown  by  statistics  here  ?  The  facts  are  that  dele- 
gates were  elected  to  the  State  convention.  They  went  there, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  party,  the*y  held  there 
the  Congressional  district  election.  They  selected  their  men  as 
we  had  done  since  1856.  The  first  thing  we  knew,  as  I  stated, 
after  this  had  been  done,  and  each  of  the  Congressional  districts 
in  the  state  had  selected  their  delegates  to  the  National  conven- 
tion, it  was  found  that  in  various  ones  of  these*  Congressional 
districts  they  would  represent  different  persons,  in  their  prefer- 
ences from  what  the  majority  of  that  convention  at  that  time 
wanted,  and  they  proceeded  to  set  aside  the  men  that  had  been 
selected  to  this  convention.  Take  i860  ;  that  was  the  next  State 
convention  of  the  Republican  party  at  which  delegates  to  the 
National  convention  were  appointed.  It  was  held  in  Decatur, 
May  9  and  10,  i860.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  pro- 
ceedings of  that  body  : —  Mr.  John  M.  Palmer  moved  that  a 
committee  of  one  member  from  each  Congressional  district  be 
appointed  by  the  Chair,  to  nominate  four  delegates  from  the  state- 
at-lar^e  to  the  Chicago  convention,  with  alternates  and  two  can- 
didates  for  electors  from  the  state-at-large.  Mr.  Murphy  moved 
to  amend  Mr.  Palmer's  proposition  by  providing  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  National  Committee  be  selected,  not  by  the  Chair,  but 
by  "the  several  representatives  present  from  the  Congressional 
districts."     At  a  subsequent  stage  of  the  proceedings    appears 


24O  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

this : — "The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Delegates  and  Alternates- 
at-large  was  presented  and  received.  The  committee  recom- 
mended the  selection  of  the  following  gentlemen."  Then  follows 
the  names  of  the  gentlemen.  "On  motion  it  was  ordered  that 
the  various  Congressional  districts  through  the  proper  persons, 
hand  in  a  list  of  district  delegates  selected  by  them,  and  also  the 
district  alternates." 

What  did  the  gentleman  mean  when  he  stood  up  before  you 
here  to-night  and  said  that  the  State  convention  had  selected  the 
delegates  to  the  National  convention  ?  I  have  the  record  here. 
Take  the 'convention  of  1864.  The  Republican  State  convention 
of  that  year  met  at  Springfield  May  25,  and  the  record  on  this 
point  is  as  follows  : — "Mr.  Scammon  of  Cook,  moved  that  a 
committee  to  consist  of  one  delegate  from  each  Congressional 
district,  to  be  selected  by  the  delegates  from  among  themselves, 
be  appointed  to  nominate  six  delegates-at-large  for  the  Baltimore 
convention,  and  their  alternates,  and  to  select  two  delegates  from 
each  Congressional  district  and  their  alternates,  and  one  candi- 
date for  elector  for  President  and  Vice-President  in  each  Con- 
gressional district."  Mr.  Cook,  of  LaSalle,  moved  to  amend  the 
last  branch  of  the  resolution  so  as  to  read  as  follows  :  "That  the 
delegates  from  each  Congressional  district  select  two  delegates 
to  the  Baltimore  convention,  and  two  alternates.  The  amend- 
ment was  accepted  by  Mr.  Scammon."  That  was  the  action  in 
1864.  Take  1868.  In  that  convention  it  was  as  follows:.  The 
Republican  State  convention  met  at  Peoria,  May  6.  As  part  of 
the  proceedings  of  that,  Mr.  Franklin  Corwin  of  LaSalle  was 
elected  President,  and  then  announced  that  four  committees  had 
been  decided  upon,  one  of  which  was  a  committee  to  choose  elect- 
ors iand  delegates  to  the  National  convention.  The  various  Con- 
gressional districts  were  called  upon  to  name  one  member  for 
each  of  these  committees,  and  it  was  announced  as  follows  : 
Committee  to  Name  Delegates  to  the  National  convention,  First 
district,   A.  C.    Hesing  ;  Second,  George  S.   Bangs,  and  so  forth. 

Mr.  Murphy,  of  New  York. — I  would  like  to  ask  the  gentle- 
man if  he  did  not  state  in  the  corridors  of  the  hotel  two  days 
ago  this  week  that,  under  no  circumstances  would  he  vote  for 
General  Grant,  if  he  was  nominated  ? 

Mr.  Anthony. — Sir?  I  never  said  so  in  my  life,  and  I  never 
thought  of  saying  such  a  thing  in  my  life.  No,  sir  ;  I  will  support 
General  Grant  or  any  other  man  that  this  convention  nominates. 
I  want  to  say  that  I  represent  here  the  Third  Congressional  district 
in  this  county.      It  has  a  population  of  over   120,000.      Nearly 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  241 

50,000  of  that  population  are  Germans.  In  that  district  at  the 
Cook  county  elections  there  were  only  two  men  that  were 
elected  as  Grant  men  in  the  entire  district.  Myself  and  the 
other  delegate,  Mr.  Hesing,  were  by  the  Congressional  conven- 
tion elected  unanimously  as  delegates  to  this  convention.  Whom 
did  they  take  to  place  over  us  ?  They  took  and  placed  over  us, 
for  one,  the  Hon.  John  L.  Beveridge,  who  was  beaten  out  of 
sight  in  his  own  town.  They  could  not  find  Germans  enough  in 
that  district  to  make  a  representative  of,  and  they  took  a  most 
reputable  man,  a  good  man,  but  a  Bohemian,  who  does  not 
represent  the  German  population  at  all.  The  gentleman  pictures 
to  you  what  disasters'will  follow.  I  want  to  tell  you  that  these 
ten  Congressional  districts  of  the  state  of  Illinois  constitute  the 
Republican  party  itself.  In  1876  they  gave  a  Republican  ma- 
jority of  nearly  28,000.  The  counties  down  South  that  voted 
solid  against  us  gave  at  that  time  more  than  8,000  Democratic 
majority.  These  gentlemen  talk  about  revolutionary  measures. 
The  men  to  introduce  and  inaugurate  revolution  were  the  men 
who  operated  and  co-operated  with  the  gentlemen.  We  are  here 
pleading  for  justice,  and  we  ask  no  more  than  to  follow  the 
precedents  of  the  party. 

Mr.  Storrs,  of  Illinois. — Mr.  President:  A  proposition  is 
made  for  the  first  time  in  the  political  history  of  a  national  con- 
vention to  abolish  state  conventions  in  Illinois.  It  will  not  work. 
We  have  gone  along  since  1856  under  our  system  of  state  con- 
ventions, and  have  rolled  up  magnificent  Republican  majorities. 
I  hope  that  Maine,  I  hope  that  Ohio,  looking  back  to  their 
troublesome  history  as  Republican  states,  will  not  undertake  to 
force  upon  us  their  methods.  It  is  very  clear  that  they  had 
better  adopt  ours.  The  gentleman  who  last  addressed  the  con- 
vention has  arrogated  to  the  Congressional  districts  for  whom  he 
speaks,  the  supreme  credit  of  being  the  Republican  party  of  the 
state  of  Illinois.  The  First,  Second  and  Third  Congressional 
districts  two  years  ago  gave  Democratic  majorities  of  17,000. 
So  much  for  history.  The  gentleman  must  have  been  out  of  the 
party,  and  have  forgotten  the  event.  I  stand  here  to-night  with 
the  only  evidences  of  title  as  a  delegate  to  this  convention  that  a 
delegate  from  the  state  of  Illinois  ever  presented.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  title.  No  delegate  from  Illinois  ever  appeared  in  a 
national  convention  that  did  not  bear  with  him  the  credentials  of 
the  state  which  he  represented  in  that  body — never  ;  and  the  111 i— 
noisan  who  got  into  the  convention  on  any  other  terms  crawled 
in  under  the  canvas,   or  was  appointed  doorkeeper.      He  never 

16 


242  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

got  in  in  the  regular  way.  It  is  a  question  of  title.  I  hold  to- 
night the  credentials  from  the  State  convention,  and  my  title  is 
no  better  because  the  evidences  are  the  same  as  of  the  eighteen 
delegates  whom  you  propose  to  exclude.  You  admit  me  and 
you  exclude  them,  on  precisely  the  same  evidences  of  title. 
Reconcile  the  inconsistency  if  >ou  know  how.  Since  1856  this 
state  has  held  Republican  state  conventions,  and  there  has  never 
been  an  instance  in  its  history — not  one — in  which  a  delegate 
was  appointed  to  a  national  convention  where  the  authority  to 
make  the  appointment  did  not  proceed  from  the  convention  at 
large.  I  do  not  care  how  vigorous,  declamatory,  noisy  and 
vehement  the  assertion  to  the  contrary  may  be.  That  is  the 
history  of  the  state.  When  committees  were  formed  for  the 
selection  of  delegates,  they  were  formed  because  the  convention 
authorized  them  to  be  formed.  Is  the  creature,  I  ask  this  body, 
superior  to  the  creator?  If  it  was  a  committee  selected  by  the 
Congressional  districts,  it  was  because  in  every  instance  the  con- 
vention authorized  the  organization  of  the  committee,  and 
directed  the  body  from  which  it  should  be  constituted  ;  and  on 
all  occasions  the  committee,  clothed  with  this  power,  derived  its 
authority,  not  to  select,  not  to  appoint,  but  merely  to  name 
delegates  to  the  National  convention  ;  and  their  action  was  re- 
ported back  to  that  body  for  its  approval  or  its  disapprobation. 
That  has  been  the  history  of  the  state.  Now  it  is  proposed  to 
change  it.  It  has  been  urged,  however,  that  a  great,  blessed 
privilege,  that  of  district  representation,  has  been  invaded. 

"All  these  delegates  are  from  the  Congressional  districts  for 
which  they  were  named,  and  there  is  but  one  exception  to  this 
statement  of  fact.  Among  the  contesting  delegates  there  is  one 
delegate  selected  from  the  Sixth  district  who  is  not  a  resident  of 
the  district,  and  has  not  been  for  years  past.  I  go  further  with 
this  history.  I  shall  not  detain  you  to-night  by  reading  ;  but  let 
me  call  your  attention  to  the  call  for  that  convention.  It  is  a 
convention  of  what  ?  Of  the  Republicans  of  the  state  of  Illinois. 
To  meet  how?  To  meet  in  State  convention.  For  what  purpose  ? 
As  a  state  convention — as  an  entire,  complete,  indivisible,  polit- 
ical body  to  nominate  candidates  for  state  offices,  and  to  name 
forty-two  delegates  to  this  body.  That  is  the  call.  Recognizing 
the  call,  the  thousands  of  Republicans  of  this  state  sent  693  del- 
egates, not  to  a  congregation  of  Congressional  conventions,  but 
to  a  great  solid  body  called  a  state  convention,  in  which  either 
the  majority  or  the  minority  must  rule.  And  in  this  instance  the 
majority  decided  to  rule.      Never  has  there   been  an  instance  in 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS. 


243 


the  entire  history  of  this  state  when  such  a  thing  as  a  Congres- 
sional district  convention  was  held  within,  outside,  on  the  verge 
of,  near  by,  or  adjacent  to,  a  state  convention — never.  In  this 
long  history  to  which  I  have  referred,  sometimes  the  convention 
has  appointed  a  committee  made  up  of  one  person  from  each 
Congressional  district,  to  do  what  ?  Sometimes  the  chair  has 
named  the  committee  ;  sometimes  the  convention  has  named  the 
committee,  to  select  delegates  to  the  National  convention.  When 
that  has  been  done  the  work  has  been  referred  back  to  that  body, 
and  they  approved.  The  state  convention  has  set  its  seal  of  ap- 
proval on  the  work,  and  by  its  credentials  sent  each  delegate 
here,  and  he  has  represented  not  merely  a  school  district,  not 
merely  a  sewing  society,  not  merely  a  fractional  part  of  a  Congres- 
sional district,  but  he  has  represented,  in  part,  the  majesty  of  the 
great  state  of  Illinois.  Now,  what  is  the  offense  which  the  state  of 
Illinois  on  this  occasion  has  committed?  It  desired,  speaking 
authoritatively  through  its  state  convention,  to  give  expression  to 
its  will.  Whatever  its  will,  we  knew  of  but  one  method  by 
which  that  will  could  be  ascertained.  It  was  by  an  appeal  to  the 
convention  itself.  When  the  convention,  representing  the  Re- 
publicans of  the  state,  declared  by  its  majority  its  preference  for 
a  particular  candidate,  that  was  the  will  of  the  state,  and  if  it 
had  the  power  thus  to  express  its  wish,  it  had,  I  undertake  to  say, 
power  to  make  this  expression  effectual.  If  it  had  the  right  to 
instruct,  and  no  one  denies  that  it  does  possess  that  power,  with 
the  right  to  instruct,  it  had  the  right  to  make  its  instructions  so 
vigorous  that  they  would  be  obeyed.  If  it  could  express  its  will 
it  had  a  right  to  enforce  the  execution  of  that  will ;  it  had  a  right 
to  defend  itself  against  treachery,  trickery,  fraud,  corruption,  vio- 
lated faith,  broken  pledges  and  disregarded  instructions.  It  did 
protect  itself,  and  that  convention,  as  all  prior  conventions  have 
done,  selected  men  who  needed  not  to  be  instructed.  It  selected 
men  who  knew  no  law  but  the  will  of  the  majority  which  they 
represented  ;  who  knew  no  '  boss'  and  no  allegiance  to  anything, 
and  recognized  no  despotism  except  the  stern,  inexorable  and 
irresistible  despotism  of  duty. 

"It  has  been  suggested,  however,  that  an  argument  can  be 
drawn  from  the  call  of  this  convention.  Looking  back  to  the 
various  calls  of  national  conventions  from  1864  down  to  this 
day,  no  allusion  whatever  has  been  made  to  Congressional  dis- 
tricts. There  has  merely  been  an  expression  indicating  the  num- 
ber of  delegates  which  each  state  was  to  select,  but  in  this  case 
the  call  was  prepared  by  one  of  the  members  of  the  committee 


244  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

at  the  suggestion  of  its  chairman,  and  never  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee as  a  body  for  its  action.  Is  the  will  or  accident  of  some 
scrivener  to  be  substituted  for  and  made  the  law  of  a  great  na- 
tional convention  ?*..**  I  appeal  to  considerations  way 
beyond  the  mere  personal  preferences  which  we  feel  to-night.  I 
appeal  to  those  considerations  infinitely  grander,  vastly  nobler, 
than  those  personal  preferences  that  inspire  the  galleries,  and  I 
am  afraid,  the  body  of  this  convention.  I  appeal  to  the  great 
cause  which  absorbs  within  itself,  and  is  grander  than  all  the 
greatness  of  our  individual  leaders.  I  appeal  for  that  harmony 
in  the  future  which  we  must  have.  I  appeal  to  that  just  judg- 
ment of  the  party  which  I  do  not  believe  will  ever  knowingly,  or 
willingly,  or  deliberately,  inflict  a  wrong.  I  conjure  you  to  stay 
your  hand  over  what  the  Republican  party  in  this  state  will  re- 
gard as  an  outrage  on  its  dignity,  and  on  the  freedom  of  its 
action. 

"I  wish  to  indulge  in  no  line  of  commentary  that  can  intensi- 
fy the  bitterness  which  already  exists.  I  wish  to  denounce  no 
one.  But  I  have  been  upon  this  platform  advocating  a  cause 
which  has  been  espoused  here  to-night,  and  announced  in  the  re- 
port of  this  majority  of  the  Committee,  what  looked  to  me  like 
disembodied  spirits  of  the  party  of  the  Liberal  movement  of  1872. 
I  am  in  favor  of  no  such  resurrection.  When  the  bolter  dies,  I 
hope  that  he  may  die,  Sir,  the  death  that  knows  no  waking.  It 
does  seem  as  if  all  the  tombs  of  all  the  chronic  bolters  of  the 
state  had  been  rifled,  and  their  forms,  re-fleshed,  set  up  here  to 
speak  a  law  to  the  Republicans  of  the  state  of  Illinois.  I  object 
to  being  instructed  from  that  quarter.  And  now,  looking  to 
this  future  with  which  we  are  so  rapidly  walking,  looking  to  this 
great  contest  upon  which  we  are  so  soon  entering,  do  not,  I  beg 
you,  by  one  single  word  that  you  may  utter,  or  one  vote  that  you 
may  cast,  impair  the  energy  of  that  great  rank  and  file  which 
constitute  the  50,000  Republican  majority  of  the  state  of  Illinois. 
I  beg  you  to  deal  justly  with  us  all,  and  whatever  individual 
preference  this  great  convention  may  express,  will  be  responded 
to,  not  half-heartedly,  not  despairingly,  not  doubtingly,  but  with 
whole  soul  and  in  dead  earnest.  Nominate  James  G.  Blaine  if 
you  will,  and  when  the  gentlemen  who  are  cheering  in  the  gal- 
leries to-night  are  reposing  under  the  soft  summer  sky,  tired  of 
politics  and  disgusted  with  its  fatigues,  you  will  find  the  follow- 
ers of  the  grand  old,  silent,  soldier  awake  by  their  camp-fires, 
and  carrying  the  banner  of  the  sluggard  forward  to  triumphant 
victory.     (Loud  and  long-continued  applause).     Give  the  grand 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  245 

old  state  that  never  knew  a  draft,  and  never  filled  up  a  regiment 
with  paper  soldiers — give  the  grand  old  state,  the  home  of  Lin- 
coln, and  Douglas,  and  Grant,  a  fair  chance.  Put  no  indignity 
on  the  honor  of  her  sons.  Then,  if  you  can  nominate  the  worthy 
son  of  Ohio,  John  Sherman,  do  it  fairly,  and  when  the  hysterical 
gentlemen  who  are  afraid  that  he  is  not  popular  enough  to  carry 
Illinois,  are  inquiring  their  way  to  the  polls,  the  grand  old  guard, 
whose  representative  I  am,  will  have  planted  the  banner  of  vic- 
tory on  the  citadels  of  the  enemy.  By  all  means  let  us  be  free 
and  absolutely  untrammeled  ;  put  no  just  cause  for  complaint  on 
us  ;  have  no  hesitancy  in  a  candidate  who  exhibits  scars,  pro- 
vided they  are  honorable  scars,  won  in  honorable  warfare.  Se- 
lect no  man  without  a  record  ;  pull  no  skulker  from  under  the 
ammunition  wagon,  because  he  shows  not  upon  him  the  signs  of 
battle  ;  take  the  old  tried  hero — let  us  take  him  if  we  can  get 
him  ;  and  then  I  believe,  with  the  old  guard  behind  him,  who 
have  never  kept  step  in  this  world  to  any  music  but  the  music  of 
the  Union,  and  with  the  friends  of  Blaine,  and  the  friends  of 
Sherman,  and  the  friends  of  all  good  men,  a  victory  will  be 
achieved,  the  like  of  which  has  never  been  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  our  national  politics.  Citizens  of  one  country,  members  of 
one  party,  let  us  remember  that,  while  we  accept  no  indignities 
from  our  enemies,  we  hope,  and  trust,  and  pray  our  friends  will 
put  none  upon  us.  Here  in  the  midnight,  with  the  storm  with- 
out, and  these  assembled  Republicans  within,  we  are  first  to  be 
just,  first  to  be  fair,  and  victory  is  ours  as  sure  as  the  morning 
comes.      Gentlemen,  I  thank  you." 

The  roll  was  called  on  a  motion  of  Mr.  Powell  Clayton,  of  Ar- 
kansas, to  substitute  the  minority  for  the  majority  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Credentials,  in  reference  to  the  First  district  of 
Illinois,  and  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  yeas  353,  nays  387. 
So  much  of  the  majority  report  as  related  to  the  First  district  of 
Illinois  was  then  adopted  by  a  vote  of  yeas  384,  nays  356  ;  the 
majority  report  in  relation  to  the  Third  district  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  yeas  385,  nays  353,  and  that  portion  of  the  majority  re- 
port relating  to  the  Fourth  district  was  adopted  by  yeas  388, 
nays  351.     The  convention  adjourned  at  2:20  o'clock  A.  M. 

Roscoe  Conkling,  of  New  York,  placed  Gen.   U.    S.  Grant 
in  nomination   for  the   Presidency   in   this  convention,  and  the 
speech  of  this  celebrated  statesman   was  pronounced  one  of  his 
most  splendid  efforts.     The  speech  was  as  follows  : 
"  '  And  when  asked  what  state  he  hails  from, 
Our  sole  reply  shall  be, 


246  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

He  hails  from  Appomattox 
And  its  famous  apple  tree.' 

"In  obedience  to  instructions  which  I  should  never  dare  to 
disregard,  expressing  also  my  own  firm  convictions,  I  rise,  Mr. 
President,  in  behalf  of  the  state  of  New  York,  to  propose  a 
nomination  with  which  the  country  and  the  Republican  party  can 
grandly  win.  The  election  before  us  is  the  Austerlitz  of  Amer- 
ican politics.  It  will  decide  for  many  years  whether  the  country 
shall  be  Republican  or  Cossack.  The  supreme  need  of  the  hour 
is  not  a  candidate  who  can  carry  Michigan.  All  Republican  can- 
didates can  do  that.  The  need  is  not  of  a  candidate  popular  in 
the  territories,  because  the  territories  have  no  vote.  The  need 
is  of  a  candidate  who  can  carry  doubtful  states.  Not  the  doubt- 
ful states  of  the  North  alone,  but  also  the  doubtful  states  of  the 
South,  which  we  have  heard,  if  I  understand  aright,  ought  to 
take  but  little  or  no  part  here,  because  the  South  has  nothing  to 
give,  but  everything  to  receive.  The  need  which  urges  itself  on 
the  conscience  and  reason  of  the  convention  is  of  a  candidate 
who  can  carry  doubtful  states,  both  North  and  South.  And  be- 
lieving that  he,  more  surely  than  any  other  man,  can  carry  New 
York  against  any  opponent,  and  carry  not  only  the  North,  but 
several  states  of  the  South,  New  York  is  for  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 
Never  defeated  in  peace  or  in  war,  his  name  is  the  most  illus- 
trious borne  by  living  man.  His  services  attest  his  greatness, 
and  the  country — nay,  the  world — knows  them  by  heart.  His 
fame  was  earned  not  alone  by  things  written  and  said,  but  by  the 
arduous  greatness  of  things  done  ;  and  perils  and  emergencies 
will  search  in  vain  in  the  future,  as  they  have  searched  in  vain  in 
the  past,  for  any  other  on  whom  the  nation  leans  with  such  con- 
fidence and  trust.  Never  having  had  a  policy  to  enforce  against 
the  will  of  the  people,  he  never  betrayed  a  cause  or  a  friend,  and 
the  people  will  never  desert  or  betray  him.  Standing  on  the 
highest  eminence  of  human  distinction,  modest,  firm,  simple  and 
self-poised,  having  filled  all  lands  with  his  renown,  he  has  seen 
not  only  the  high-born  and  the  titled,  but  the  poor  and  lowly,  in 
the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth,  rise  and  uncover  before  him. 
He  has  studied  the  needs  and  defects  of  many  systems  of  gov- 
ernment, and  he  has  returned,  a  better  American  than  ever,  with 
a  wealth  of  knowledge  and  experience  added  to  the  hard  common 
sense  which  shone  so  conspicuously  in  all  the  fierce  light  that  beat 
upon  him  during  sixteen  years  of  the  most  trying,  the  most  porten- 
tous, the  most  perilous,  in  the  nation's  history.  Villified  and 
reviled,  ruthlessly  aspersed   by  numberless  presses,  not  in  other 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  247 

lands  but  in  his  own,  assaults  upon  him  have  seasoned  and 
strengthened  his  hold  on  the  public  heart.  Calumny's  ammuni- 
tion has  all  been  exploded  ;  the  powder  has  all  been  burned 
once,  its  force  is  spent,  and  the  name  of  Grant  will  glitter,  a 
bright  and  imperishable  star  in  the  diadem  of  the  Republic,  when 
those  who  have  tried  to  tarnish  it  have  moldered  in  forgotten 
graves  ;  and  when  their  memories  and  their  epitaphs  have  van- 
ished utterly. 

"  Never  elated  by  success,  never  depressed  by  adversity,  he 
has  ever,  in  peace  as  in  war,  shown  the  very  genius  of  common 
sense.  The  terms  he  presented  for  Lee's  surrender  foreshadowed 
the  wisest  prophecies  and  principles  of  true  reconstruction. 
Victor  in  the  greatest  war  of  modern  times,  he  quickly  signalized 
his  aversion  to  war  and  his  love  for  peace  by  an  arbitration  of 
international  disputes,  which  stands  the  wisest,  the  most  majestic 
example  of  its  kind  in  the  world's  diplomacy.  When  inflation, 
at  the  height  of  its  popularity  and  frenzy,  had  swept  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  it  was  the  veto  of  Grant,  single  and  alone,  which 
overthrew  expansion,  and  cleared  the  way  for  specie  resumption. 
To  him,  immeasurably  more  than  to  any  other  man,  is  due  the 
fact  that  every  paper  dollar  is  at  last  as  good  as  gold.  With  him 
as  our  leader  we  shall  have  no  defensive  campaign.  We  shall 
have  nothing  to  explain  away.  We  shall  have  no  apologies  to 
make.  The  shafts  and  arrows  have  all  been  aimed  at  him,  and 
they  lie,  broken  and  harmless,  at  his  feet. 

"Life,  liberty  and  property  will  find  a  safeguard  in  him. 
When  he  said  of  the  colored  men  in  Florida  :  '  Wherever  I  am 
they  may  come  also,'  he  meant  that,  had  he  the  power,  the  poor 
dwellers  in  the  cabins  of  the  South  should  no  longer  be  driven 
in  terror  from  the  homes  of  their  childhood,  and  the  graves  of 
their  murdered  dead.  When  he  refused  to  receive  Dennis 
Kearney  in  California  he  meant  that  communism,  lawlessness 
and  disorder,  although  it  might  stalk  high-headed  and  dictate 
law  to  a  whole  city,  would  always  find  a  foe  in  him.  He  meant 
that,  popular  or  unpopular,  he  would  hew  to  the  line  of  right,  let 
the  chips  fly  where  they  may.  His  integrity,  his  common  sense, 
his  courage,  his  unequaled  experience  are  qualities  offered  to  his 
country.  The  only  argument — the  only  one — that  the  wit  of 
man  or  the  stress  of  politics  has  devised  is  one  which  would 
dumbfound  Solomon,  because  Solomon  thought  there  was 
nothing  new  under  the  sun.  Having  tried  Grant  twice  and 
found  him  faithful,  we  are  told  that  we  must  not,  even  after  an 
interval    of    years,   trust    him    again.      My    countrymen  ! — my 


248  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

countrymen  ! — what  stultification  does  not  such  a  fallacy  involve  ? 
The  American  people  exclude  Jefferson  Davis  from  public  trust. 
Why  ?  Because  he  was  the  arch  traitor  and  would-be  destroyer. 
And  now  the  same  people  is  asked  to  ostracize  Grant,  and  not 
to  trust  him  !  Why  ?  Why  ?  I  repeat.  Because  he  was  the 
arch  preserver  of  his  country,  and  because,  not  only  in  war,  but 
twice  as  Civil  Magistrate,  he  gave  his  highest,  noblest  efforts  to 
the  Republic.  Is  this  an  electioneering  juggle,  or  is  it 
hypocrisy's  masquerade  ?  There  is  no  field  of  human  activity, 
responsibility  or  reason  in  which  rational  beings  object  to  an 
agent  because  he  has  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  not  found 
wanting.  There  is,  I  say,  no  department  of  human  reason  in 
which  sane  men  reject  an  agent  because  he  has  had  experience, 
making  him  exceptionally  competent  and  fit.  From  the  man 
who  shoes  your  horse  to  the  lawyer  who  tries  your  cause,  the 
officer  who  manages  your  railway  or  your  mill,  the  doctor  into 
whose  hands  you  give  your  life,  or  the  minister  who  seeks  to 
save  your  soul,  what  man  do  you  reject  because  by  his  works 
you  have  known  him.  and  found  him  faithful  and  fit  ?  What 
makes  the  presidential  office  an  exception  to  all  things  else  in 
the  common  sense  to  be  applied  to  selecting  its  incumbent  ? 
Who  dares  to  put  fetters  on  that  free  choice  and  judgment  which 
is  the  birthright  of  the  American  people  ?  Can  it  be  said  that 
Grant  has  used  official  power  and  place  to  perpetuate  his  term  ? 
He  has  no  place,  and  official  power  has  not  been  used  for  him. 
Without  patronage,  without  emissaries,  without  committees, 
without  bureaus,  without  telegraph  wires  running  from  his  house 
or  from  the  seats  of  influence  to  this  convention,  without  appli- 
ances, without  electioneering  contrivances,  without  effort  on  his 
part,  Grant's  name  is  on  his  country's  lips.  He  is  struck  at  by 
the  whole  Democratic  party,  because  his  nomination  is  the  death- 
blow of  Democratic  success.  He  is  struck  at  by  others,  who  find 
an  offense  and  disqualification  in  the  very  services  he  has  ren- 
dered, and  the  very  experience  he  has  gained.  Show  me  a  better 
man.  Name  one,  and  I  am  answered.  But  do  not  point  as  a 
disqualification  to  the  very  experience  which  makes  this  man  fit 
beyond  all  others.  There  is  no  "third  term"  in  the  case, 
and  the  pretense  will  die  with  the  political  dog-days  that 
engendered  it.  One  week  after  the  Democratic  convention  we 
shall  have  heard  the  last  of  this  rubbish  about  a  "  third  term." 
Nobody  now  is  really  disquieted  about  a  third  term  except  those 
hopelessly  longing  for  a  first  term,  and  their  dupes  and  coadju- 
tors.    Without  effort  or  intrigue  on  his  part,  he  is  the  candidate 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  249 

whose  friends  have  never  threatened  to  bolt  unless  this  conven- 
tion did  as  they  said.  He  is  a  Republican  who  never  wavers. 
He  and  his  friends  stand  by  the  creed  and  the  candidate  of  the 
Republican  party.  They  hold  the  rightful  rule  of  the  majority 
as  the  very  essence  of  their  faith,  against  not  only  the  common 
enemy,  but  against  the  charlatans,  jayhawkers,  tramps  and 
guerillas  who  deploy  between  the  lines  and  forage,  now  on  one 
side,  and  then  on  the  other.  The  convention  is  master  of  a  su- 
preme opportunity.  It  can  name  the  next  President  of  the 
United  States.  It  can  make  sure  of  his  election.  It  can  make 
sure  not  only  of  his  election,  but  of  his  certain  and  peaceful  in- 
auguration. It  can  assure  a  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives.  More  than  all,  it  can  break 
that  power  which  dominates  and  mildews  the  South.  It  can 
overthrow  an  organization  whose  very  existence  is  a  standing 
protest  against  progress. 

"The  purpose  of  the  Democratic  party  is  spoils.  Its  very 
hope  and  existence  is  a  solid  South.  Its  success  is  a  menace  to 
order  and  prosperity.  This  convention  can  overthrow  and  disin- 
tegrate these  hurtful  forces.  It  can  dissolve  and  emancipate  a 
distracted  'solid  South.'  It  can  speed  the  nation  in  a  career  of 
grandeur,  eclipsing  all  past  achievements.  Gentlemen,  we  have 
only  to  listen  above  the  din  and  look  beyond  the  dust  of  an  hour, 
to  behold  the  Republican  party  announcing,  with  its  ensigns  res- 
plendent with  illustrious  achievements,  marching  to  certain  and 
lasting  victory  with  its  greatest  Marshal  at  its  head." 

Mr.  Joy  of  Michigan,  placed  James  G.  Blaine  of  Maine,  in 
nomination,  seconded  by  Mr.  Pixley  of  California  ;  Mr.  Drake 
of  Minnesota  placed  in  nomination  William  Windom,  of  the  same 
state;  James  A.  Garfield  of  Ohio,  placed  John  Sherman  of  that 
state  in  nomination,  and  the  following  extract  from  his  speech 
and  a  historic  incident  of  the  convention  are  taken  from  the 
official  proceedings  : 

"Not  here,  in  this  brilliant  circle  where  15,000  men  and 
women  are  gathered,  is  the  destiny  of  the  Republic  to  be  decreed 
for  the  next  four  years.  Not  here,  where  I  see  the  enthusiastic 
faces  of  756  delegates,  waiting  to  cast  their  lots  into  the  urn  and 
determine  the  choice  of  the  Republic  ;  but  by  four  millions  of 
Republican  firesides,  where  the  thoughtful  voters,  with  wives  and 
children  about  them,  with  the  calm  thoughts  inspired  by  love  of 
home  and  country,  with  the  history  of  the  past,  the  hopes  of  the 
future,  and  reverence  for  the  great  men  who  have  adorned  and 
blessed  our  nation  in  days  gone  by,  burning  in  their  hearts — 


25O  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

there  God  prepares  the  verdict  which  will  determine  the  wisdom 
of  our  work  to-night.  Not  in  Chicago,  in  the  heat  of  June,  but 
at  the  ballot  boxes  of  the  Republic,  in  the  quiet  of  November, 
after  the  silence  of  deliberate  judgment,  will  this  question  be 
settled.  And  now,  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  what  do  we 
want  ?     [A  voice.     We  want  Garfield.] 

Mr.  Garfield. — Bear  with  me  a  moment.  "Hear  me  for 
my  cause,"  and  for  a  moment  "be  silent  that  you  may  hear." 

Mr.  Billings  of  Vermont,  placed  in  nomination  George  F. 
Edmunds  of  that  state  ;  Mr.  Cassoday  of  Wisconsin,  placed  in 
nomination  Elihu  B.  Washburne  of  Illinois,  seconded  by  Mr. 
Brandagee  of  Connecticut.  On  the  first  ballot  the  vote  stood, 
Grant  304  ;  Blaine  284  ;  Sherman  93  ;  Edmunds  34  ;  Washburne 
30  ;  Windom  10  ;  total  number  of  delegates  756  ;  necessary  to  a 
choice  379.  James  G.  Blaine  received  his  highest  number  of 
votes  on  the  first  ballot ;  Grant  received  307  on  the  twenty-eighth 
ballot,  and  increased  to  313  on  the  thirty-fifth  ballot,  when 
Blaine's  vote  had  dropped  to  257.  One  Pennsylvania  delegate 
voted  for  Garfield  on  and  after  the  second  ballot  ;  on  the  sixth 
and  most  of  the  ensuing  ballots  Garfield  received  2  votes  ;  on 
the  thirtieth  John  Sherman  received  his  highest  number  ;  on 
the  thirty-fourth  Garfield  received  17,  of  whicji  16  were  from 
Wisconsin  ;  on  the  thirty-fifth  Garfield  received  50,  of  which  27 
were  from  Indiana  and  4  from  Maryland,  and  on  the  thirty-sixth 
ballot  he  was  nominated,  receiving  399  to  Grant's  306.  Ohio 
did  not  vote  for  Garfield  until  the  final  ballot.  Roscoe  Corikling 
moved  to  make  the  nomination  unanimous,  and  Senator  Logan 
seconded  the  motion,  speaking  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Logan,  of  Illinois. — Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of 
the  Convention  :  We  are  to  be  congratulated  that  we  have  arrived 
at  a  conclusion  in  reference  to  the  presenting  of  a  candidate  to 
become  the  standard  bearer  of  the  Republican  party  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  In  union  and  harmony  there  is 
strength.  Whatever  may  have  transpired  in  this  convention 
that  may  have  momentarily  marred  the  feelings  of  any  one  here, 
I  hope  that,  in  our  conclusion,  it  will  pass  from  our  minds.  I, 
sir,  with  the  friends  of,  I  think,  one  of  the  grandest  men  that 
graces  the  earth,  stood  here  to  fight  a  friendly  battle  in  favor  of 
his  nomination  ;  but  sir,  this  convention  has  chosen  another 
leader.  The  men  that  stood  by  Grant's  banners  will  be  seen  in 
the  front  of  this  contest  on  the  field.  We  will  go  forward  in 
this  contest,  sir,  not  with  tied  hands,  not  with  sealed  lips,  not 
with  bridled  tongues,  but  to  speak  the  truth  in    favor  of   the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  25 1 

grandest  party  that  has  ever  been  organized  in  this  country  ; 
to  maintain  its  principles,  to  maintain  its  power,  to  preserve  its 
ascendancy  ;  and  sir,  with  the  leader  you  have  selected,  my 
judgment  is  that  victory  will  perch  upon  our  banners.  I,  sir, 
as  one  of  the  representatives  from  the  state  of  Illinois,  second 
the  nomination  of  James  A.  Garfield  of  Ohio,  and  I  hope  it 
may  be  made  unanimous. 

Nomination  of  Elihu  B.  Washburne  for  Vice-President. 
On  the  call  of  the  roll  for  the  nomination  of  Vice-President, 
Mr.  Pixley  of  California,  spoke  as  follows  : — Mr.  President,  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  :  I  rise  for  the  purpose  of  placing 
a  man  in  nomination  for  the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  in  which  he  was  born  ;  but  only  in  consultation 
with  and  by  the  desire  of  my  own  state — California.  In  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  choice  that  has  given  us  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
ablest  and  strongest  men  of  the  nation  to  head  our  ticket  as 
candidate  for  President,  I  think  we  ought  not  to  lose  sight  of 
the  importance  of  securing  an  equally  able  and  equally  strong 
man  for  the  second  place  upon  that  ticket.  The  nomination  that 
has  been  made  is  undoubtedly  one  that  will  commend  itself  to 
the  best  intelligence  of  the  whole  Republican  party  of  the  United 
States  ;  and  although  our  delegates  did  not  obtain  the  eminent 
gentleman  for  whom  we  voted,  we  go  back  to  our  Western  shore 
in  confidence  that  those  three  states  will  back  up  their  political 
traditions  of  the  last  twenty  years,  and  give  the  electoral  vote  of 
California,  Nevada,  and  Oregon  again  to  the  Republican  party. 
I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  the  acquaintance  of  the  gentleman 
whom  I  am  about  to  name,  for  a  great  many  years.  For  sixteen 
years  he  was  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  He  made  a 
magnificent  record  there.  He  made  a  record  in  the  direction  of 
questions  that  are  now  becoming  very  prominent  before  the 
American  people.  I  had  the  further  pleasure,  Mr.  President,  to 
meet  this  gentleman  under  very  trying  circumstances,  in  the  city 
of  Paris,  when  I  was  abroad.  You  all  know  to  whom  I  refer — 
it  is  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  of  Illinois.  Mr.  President,  I  saw  that 
gentleman,  too,  at  a  period  when  it  tested  the  true  dignity  and 
bravery  of  the  American  character.  I  saw  him  chosen,  because 
he  was  Ambassador  of  the  United  States,  to  be  the  Ambassador 
of  the  belligerent  German  powers.  I  saw  him  throw  the  pro- 
tecting shield  of  the  American  banner  over  that  class  of  our  fel- 
low-citizens that  are  so  largely  represented  in  the  United  States. 
I  desire  to  have  all  that  my  friend,  Mr.  Brandegee,  of  Connecti- 
cut, said  when  he  placed  Mr.  Washburne  in  nomination  for  Pres- 


252 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


ident,  to  be  re-said  of  him  now  as  candidate  for  Vice-President ; 
for  surely  if  he  was  so  largely  respected  and  loved  by  the  German 
people  for  his  dignity  of  character  while  in  Paris,  as  a  candidate 
here  for  this  high  office,  with  the  same  dignity  of  character  he 
will  command  the  same  respect  from  the  same  people,  and  bring 
to  the  party  every  German  vote.  I  am  conscious  and  certain 
that  in  every  one  of  the  great  cities,  whether  the  Republican 
party  is  strong  there  or  weak,  the  German  population  will  be 
grateful  to  this  convention  if  we  shall  give  them  the  strongest 
ticket  that  can  be  made  for  all  the  people  of  the  country — James 
A.  Garfield  for  President,  and  Elihu  B.  Washburne  for  Vice- 
President.  With  a  single  word  I  shall  close.  The  question  of 
locality  is  sometimes  considered,  and  I  have  heard  it  suggested 
here.  But  if  the  delegates  from  Ohio  nominate  their  man,  and 
the  delegates  from  Illinois  consent  to  Mr.  Washburne,  I  think 
the  locality  will  not  be  considered  as  being  of  any  importance, 
or  cutting  any  figure  as  opposed  to  the  general  fact  that  Mr. 
Washburne  will  bring  to  our  ticket  that  large  foreign  element 
that  is  working  with  the  Republican  party,  and  has  done  so  ever 
since  it  has  been  a  party  in  the  United  States. 

Chester  A.  Arthur  of  New  York,  was  placed  in  nomination 
for  Vice-President  by  Gen.  Woodford  of  New  York,  and  the 
nomination  was  seconded  by  Emory  A.  Storrs  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Storrs,  of  Illinois. — On  behalf  of  the  majority  of  the 
Republican  delegates  from  the  state  of  Illinois,  it  is  my  duty,  as  it 
is  my  extreme  pleasure,  to  second  the  nomination  made  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  of  Hon.  Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  the  state  of 
New  York.  I  believe  that  every  dictate  of  political  wisdom  and 
political  prudence  looks  in  that  direction.  I  believe  that  the 
"  old  guard,"  which  stood  through  thirty-six  ballots  306,  whose 
line  never  wavered,  in  whose  ranks  there  never  was  a  shrinking 
man,  in  whose  solid  front  there  never  was  a  desertion — I  believe 
that  this  old  guard,  that  has  carried  in  the  past  and  will  carry  in 
the  future  the  flag  of  the  party  to  triumph,  wishes  and  prays  for 
the  nomination  of  Chester  A.  Arthur.  I  know  that  these  stal- 
wart Republicans,  representing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Re- 
publicans throughout  the  Union,  are  as  firmly  resolved  that  Gar- 
field shall  be  elected  President  as  if  the  modest  man,  the  great 
statesman,  the  silent  soldier,  had  received  the  nomination  of  this 
convention.  We  have  suffered  no  defeat ;  nothing  could  have 
defeated  nor  dismayed  us  but  a  wavering  of  the  line,  and  the 
line  never  wavered.  With  our  banners  still  flying,  members  of 
the  same  army,  inspired  by  the  same  elevated  purpose,  animated 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  253 

by  the  same  patriotic  spirit,  Illinois,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  New- 
York,  joining  hands  together,  will  carry  the  flag  through  to  a 
triumph  as  splendid  as  the  party  ever  achieved.  I  know  1  speak 
in  behalf  of  those  who  have  always  been  Republicans  ;  I  know  I 
speak  in  behalf  of  those  who  are  now  Republicans  ;  I  know  I 
speak  in  behalf  of  those  who  always  will  be  Republicans;  I  know  I 
speak  in  behalf  of  the  great  silent  soldier,  when  I  second  the 
nomination  of  Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  New  York. 

The  ensuing  ballot  resulted  as  follows  :  Chester  A.  Arthur 
of  New  York,  468;  Elihu  B.  Washburne  of  Illinois,  193  ;  Mar- 
shall Jewell  of  Connecticut,  44  ;  Horace  Maynard  of  Tennes- 
see, 30;  Blanche  K.  Bruce  of  Mississippi,  8;  James  L.  Alcorn 
of  Mississippi,  4  ;  Edmund  J.  Davis  of  Texas,  2  ;  Thomas  Set- 
tle of  Florida,  1  ;  Stewart  L.  Woodford  of  New  York,  1. 

The  Greenback  National  convention  was  also  held  at  Chi- 
cago June  20,  and  James  B.  Weaver  of  Iowa,  was  nominated 
for  President,  and  P.  J.  Chambers  of  Indiana,  for  Vice-President. 
The  Democrats  nominated  Winfield  S.  Hancock  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, for  President,  and  William  H.  English  of  Indiana,  for 
Vice-President,  at  Cincinnati  in  July.  The  state  campaign  of 
1880,  so  far  as  its  influence  in  Chicago  and  Cook  county  was  felt, 
was  not  productive  of  anything  more  exciting  than  a  closely  con- 
tested election.  There  were  five  electoral  tickets — Republican, 
Democratic,  Greenback,  Prohibition  and  Anti-Secret  Society — in 
the  field,  and  in  the  Chicago  districts  the  Trade  and  Labor  ele- 
ment and  the  Socialists  ran  candidates  for  Congress.  The  Dem- 
ocrats selected  a  Chicago  man,  Lyman  Trumbull,  as  their  candi- 
date for  Governor,  and  his  Republican  opponent  was  Shelby 
M.  Cullom.  In  the  First  Chicago  district,  for  Congress,  William 
Aldrich,  Rep.,  received  22,307  votes;  John  Mattocks,  Dem., 
18,024  ;  J.  Altpeter,  Socialist,  605  ;  Richard  Powers,  Trade  and 
Labor,  532.  In  the  Second  district  George  R.  Davis,  Rep.,  re- 
ceived 20,603  votes  ;  John  F.  Farnsworth,  Ind.  Rep.,  16,014;  O. 
A.  Bishop,  Trade  and  Labor,  29 ;  Charles  G.  Dixon,  Green- 
backer,  461  ;  Reinhard  Loremy,  Socialist,  514.  In  the  Third  dis- 
trict Charles  B.  Farwell,  Rep.,  received  16,627  votes;  Perry  H. 
Smith,  Jr.,  Dem.,  11,903;  Charles  H.  Adams,  Greenback,  221  ; 
Oscar  Neebe,  Socialist,  141  ;  Adolph  Waldmann,  Socialist,  114. 

Among  the  Garfield  electors  were  George  Schneider,  Robert 
T.  Lincoln,  John  M.  Smyth  and  James  A.  Kirk,  and  among  the 
Hancock  electors  William  C.  Seipp,  W.  J.  Hynes  and  Francis 
A.  Hoffman,  Jr.  Garfield's  highest  vote  in  the  state  was  318,037, 
which   number  was   received  by   Robert  T.  Lincoln  ;  and  Han- 


254  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

cock's  highest  was  277,321,  received  by  William  C.  Seipp.  The 
vote  for  President  and  Vice-President  in  Cook  county  was  as 
follows  : 

Garfield  and  Arthur,  Rep.,  54,816  ;  Hancock  and  English, 
Dem.,  44,302  ;  Weaver  and  Chambers,  Greenback,  1,168.  For 
Governor,  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  Rep.,  53,899;  Lyman  Trumbull, 
Dem.,  44,657;  A.  J.  Streeter,  Greenback,  1,235.  The  vote  in  the 
state  for  Governor  was,  Cullom,  314,565  ;  Trumbull,  277,532. 


CHAPTER   X. 

MUNICIPAL    ELECTION    OF     I  88 1 MAYOR  HARRISON'S    MESSAGE    AND 

APPOINTMENTS ACTION     OF     THE     MAYOR     AND     COUNCIL     ON 

THE    ASSASSINATION    OF     GARFIELD RESOLUTIONS     ON     DEATH 

OF     CITY     EMPLOYES MAYOR'S     ANNUAL     MESSAGE COMMENT 

ON    THE    ACTION    OF    THE    GRAND     JURY STATE    CAMPAIGN    OF 

l882 CONGRESSIONAL        ELECTION ELECTION        OF         UNITED 

STATES  SENATOR THE  HARPER  BILL,  ETC. MUNICIPAL  CAM- 
PAIGN of  1883 — mayor  Harrison's  third  term. 
The  Democratic  city  convention  of  1881  was  held  at  the 
Palmer  house  in  March,  and  Carter  H.  Harrison  was  re-nomi- 
nated for  Mayor  by  acclamation.  In  accepting  the  nomination, 
Mayor  Harrison  made  a  terse  and  vigorous  speech,  denouncing 
the  press  for  making  partisan  attacks  upon  him,  and  proposing 
to  run  on  his  first  two  years'  record  as  Mayor.  Rudolph  Brand 
was  nominated  for  City  Treasurer;  Patrick  J.  Howard  re-nomi- 
nated for  City  Clerk,  and  Julius  S.  Grinnell  re-nominated  for 
City  Attorney,  on  the  ticket  with  Mr.  Harrison.  John  M. 
Clark  was  the  nominee  of  the  Republican  convention  for  Mayor ; 
John  Raber,  for  City  Treasurer  ;  Thomas  W.  Sennott,  for  City 
Clerk,  and  W.  D.  Underwood  for  City  Attorney.  The  Hon. 
Jesse  Spalding  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  Mayor,  and  had 
sufficient  delegates  to  divide  the  convention.  There  were  a 
number  of  so-called  "Harrison  Republicans,"  who  voted  against 
A.  M.  Wright  in  1879,  and  this  faction  made  threats  that  they 
would  not  support  the  Republican  Mayoralty  candidate  unless 
they  were  allowed  to  name  the  nominee.  For  this  and  other 
reasons  Mr.  Spalding's  friends  withdrew  his  name,  at  his  solici- 
tation, from  before  the  convention,  and  Mr.  Clark  was  duly  nom- 
inated. The  election  occurred  Tuesday,  April  5,  and  resulted  as 
follows  : 

mayor. 
Carter    H.    Harrison,  Dem.,         .         .         .         35,668 
John   M.     Clark,   Rep.,         ....         27,925 

TREASURER. 

Rudolf  Brand,  Dem.,  ....         33,998 

John  Raber,  Rep., 28,570 

(255) 


256  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

CITY    ATTORNEY. 

Julius  S.  Grinnell,  Dem.,       ....  34.561 

W.  D.  Underwood,  Rep.,      .         .         .         .         28,127 

CITY  CLERK. 

P.   J.  Howard,  Dem.,  ....  33.264 

Thos.  W.  Sennott,  Rep 29, 159 

In  this  election  Timothy  O'Meara  ran  independently  for 
Mayor,  receiving  764  votes.  The  Socialists  nominated  George 
Schilling  for  Mayor,  and  Frank  A.  Stauber  for  Treasurer,  serv- 
ing no  purpose  other  than  to  show  the  complete  breaking  down 
of  their  movement  in  politics  since  the  election  of  two  years  be- 
fore. Schilling  received  240  votes,  and  Stauber  1,999.  There 
were  1,885  scattering  votes  on  City  Attorney,  and  1,838  on  City 
Clerk.  The  Aldermanic  vote  in  the  various  wards  was  as 
follows  : 

First  ward,  Arthur  Dixon,  Rep.,  1,740;  Michael  Burke, 
Dem.,  1,281.  Second  ward,  James  T.  i^ppleton,  Dem.,  1,337; 
H.  F.  Billings,  Rep.,  1,219;  Addison  Ballard,  Ind.  Rep.,  165. 
Third  ward,  O.  B.  Phelps,  Rep.,  1,842  ;  Thomas  P.  Glody, 
Dem.,  896.  Fourth  ward,  O.  D.  Wetherell,  Rep.,  2,693  I  Sam'l 
P.  Cady,  Dem.,  1,258.  Fifth  ward,  Henry  F.  Sheridan,  Dem., 
3,414  ;  Edward  Wall,  Ind.,  1,699  '>  Franz  Koch,  Ind.,  487.  Sixth 
ward,  J.  J.  Alpeter,  Rep.  and  Soc.  Fusion,  1,654;  Charles  F. 
L.  Daemer,  Dem.,  1,503  ;  G.  A.  Wooley,  Ind.,  589.  Seventh 
ward,  John  Riordan,  Dem.,  1,399  '<  James  Clowry,  Ind.  Dem., 
1,245;  William  A.  Love,  Rep.,  1,182;  S.  Goldwater,  Ind.,  67; 
L.  Artley,  Socialist,  163.  Eighth  ward,  Thomas  Purcell,  Dem., 
2,051  ;  Cornelius  Ryan,  Ind.  Dem.,  1,547  ;  R.  M.  Oliver,  Rep., 
1,328.  Ninth  ward,  James  Peevey,  Dem.,  1,475  !  C.  W.  Dan- 
iels, Rep.,  1,284.  Tenth  ward,  Daniel  Nelson,  Rep.,  1,115; 
John  Connell,  Dem.,  492  ;  W.  H.  Ford,  Ind.,  379  ;  M.  McNurney, 
Ind.,  55;  Eleventh  ward,  Thaddeus  Dean,  Rep.,  2,249 ;  F. 
Fisher,  Dem.,  148.  Twelfth  ward,  Joseph  D.  Everett,  Rep., 
3,254;  Scattering,  12  Thirteenth  ward,  James  M.  Wanger, 
Rep.,  1,409;  Sam'l  J.  Doggett,  Dem.,  1,345.  Fourteenth  ward, 
Clemens  Hirsch,  Rep.,  1,830;  Thomas  Ryan,  Dem.,  1,422;  Pet- 
er Peterson,  Ind.,  860;  J.  J.  McGrath,  Ind.  Rep.,  947.  Fif- 
teenth ward,  Adam  Meyer,  Rep.,  1,865  !  H.  E.  D.  Sickel,  Dem., 
1,533  ;  O.  Waltman,  Ind.,  41.  Sixteenth  ward,  Chris.  Meier, 
Socialist,  1,416  ;  Amo  Voss,  Dem.,  1,376.  Seventeenth  ward, 
Edward  P.  Barrett,  Dem.,  1,577;  Thomas  Cannon,  1.401. 
Eighteenth  ward,  Frank  M.  Blair,  Rep.,  2,579  ;  George  Keller, 
Dem.,    1,526. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  257 

Mayor  Harrison's  official  bond  for  the  ensuing  term  was 
signed  by  his  late  opponent,  John  M.  Clark,  and  by  William  G. 
McCormick. 

March  30,  1881,  Mayor  Harrison  vetoed  the  annual  appro- 
priation bill,  saying  in  connection  therewith  : — In  the  year  1879 
this  administration  was  forced  to  issue  $1,250,000  in  scrip,  and 
in  1880,  although  there  was  $1,411,000  in  the  General  Fund, 
we  were  forced  to  issue  $589,000  in  scrip.  There  was  but  one 
way  to  get  rid  of  this  blot  upon  our  credit ;  that  was  to  levy, 
and  then  to  save  from  the  levy.  Mr.  Heath  saved  from  the 
levy  of  1878  about  $400,000.  I  saved  from  the  levy  of  1879 
nearly  $600,000,  and  from  the  levy  of  1880,  $400,000.  This 
saving  was  made  by  a  rigid  economy,  an  economy  for  which  we 
were  constantly  abused  by  the  thoughtless,  and  often  by  those 
who  ought  to  have  been  more  wise.  By  this  means,  and  by 
collection  of  back  taxes,  we  found  the  city  in  a  condition  at  the 
beginning  of  this  year  to  be  able  to  pay  its  General  Fund  about 
$2,050,000.  This  was  not  in  cash,  but  was  in  credits,  and  from 
various  other  funds,  and  to  be  paid  as  the  taxes  for  1880  shall 
be  collected.  *  *  *  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  School 
Board  could  easily  have  reduced  its  demand.  I  think  $1,146,- 
274  too  much  by  at  least  $150,000.  Boards  which  are  respon- 
sible to  no  one  are  ever  found  to  magnify  their  necessities,  and 
unless  held  in  check  will  eat  up  an  inordinate  amount  of  taxes. 
*  *  *  I  have  been  told  that  if  I  veto  this  ordinance  I  will 
fatally  injure  myself  for  next  Tuesday.  I  would  prefer  goino- 
out  of  politics  now  with  a  consistent  record  than  to  win  a  further 
term  by  doing  or  permitting  to  be  done  what  I  believe  to  be 
a  wrong  upon  this  fair  city. 

The  bill  as  finally  passed  by  the  Council,  April  1 1,  contained 
items    aggregating   $4,136,608.38. 

During  188 1  Mayor  Harrison  made  the  following  appoint- 
ments : — Directors  Public  Library,  George  B.  Armstrong, 
William  J.  Hynes,  Ernst  Schmidt  ;  Members  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, Thomas  Brennan,  Norman  Bridge,  William  Floto,  James 
T.  Healy,  Adolph  Kraus,  Adolph  Schoeninger  ;  City  Physician, 
French  Moore;  Fish  Inspector,  John  K.  Miller;  City  Collector, 
W.  J.  Onahan,  re-appointed  ;  Police  Justice,  West  Division 
Police  Court.  Daniel  Scully  ;  Comptroller,  T.  T.  Gurney,  re- 
appointed ;  Chief  of  Police,  W.  J.  McGarigle  ;  Fire  Marshal, 
Denis  J.  Swenie  ;  Health  Commissioner,  Oscar  C.  DeWolf  ; 
Commissioners  of  Public  Works,  Charles  S.  Waller,  D.  C. 
Crecrier. 


258  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

May  9  1 881,  the  Council  approved  the  official  bonds  of 
Julius  S.  Grinnell,  City  Attorney,  and  Rudolph  Brand,  City 
Treasurer.  The  former's  bond  in  the  sum  of  $10,000  was  signed 
as  sureties  by  W.  M.  Hoyt  and  Horace  A.  Hurlbut,  and  City 
Treasurer  Brand's  bond  in  the  sum  of  $4,500,000  by  Michael 
Brand,  Conrad  Seipp,  George  Schneider,  Peter  Schoenhofen, 
Ernst  Ulich,  H.  J,  Christoph,  Tobias  Almendinger  and  Fred- 
erick W acker  as  sureties.  At  this  meeting  of  the  Council  Mayor 
Harrison  submitted  his  second  inaugural  message,  as  follows  : 

To  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago  :— Gentle- 
men,— In  passing  from  my  first  into  a  second  term  of  orifice  as 
Mayor  of  this  great  city,  I  wish  to  express  to  the  citizens  of  Chi- 
cago my  deep  gratitude  for  the  high  honor  they  have  conferred 
upon  me,  and  to  assure  them  that  in  re-electing  me  by  so  hand- 
some a  majority  I  feel  most  keenly  that  they  have  placed  me 
under  increased  obligations  to  do  my  best  to  merit  their  confi- 
dence. A  public  man  should  seek  popularity  only  by  being 
worthy  of  it.  It  shall  be  my  earnest  endeavor  so  to  win  it.  To 
■deserve  the  applause  of  the  people  is  my  highest  ambition,  to 
obtain  it  my  greatest  pleasure.  It  is  with  confessed  pride,  gen- 
tlemen, that  I  congratulate  you  and  the  people  of  Chicago  upon 
the  unexampled  prosperity  she  has  enjoyed  during  the  past  two 
years,  and  upon  the  proud  financial  position  she  occupies  among 
the  cities  of  the  world ;  and  I  felicitate  myself  that  this  proud 
eminence  has  been  attained,  to  a  great  extent,  during  my  first 
term  of  office.  But  while  saying  this,  I  wish  to  acknowledge 
that  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  city's 
affairs  during  a  brighter  day  than  was  vouchsafed  to  my  imme- 
diate predecessors.  At  the  same  time  I  owe  to  my  able  assist- 
ants the  statement  that  they  have  been  prompt  in  taking  advant- 
age of  this  brighter  day,  and  that  they  have  not  wasted  the  sun- 
shine. Permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  condition  in 
which  I  found  the  city  affairs  two  years  ago,  and  to  contrast  it 
with  the  present  financial  status.  Then,  and  for  several  prior 
years,  the  city,  not  having  the  means  to  pay  her  servants  and  to 
obtain  supplies  with  cash,  was  forced  to  issue  scrip  or  warrants 
on  the  Treasurer,  to  be  paid  from  taxes  to  be  collected  many 
months  after  such  issuance.  In  1878,  my  predecessor — an  eco- 
nomical officer  —  issued  about  $2,238,000  of  this  scrip.  This 
entailed  upon  employes  a  loss  of  from  5  to  10  per  cent,  on  the 
dollar,  and  upon  the  city,  through  its  contracts,  a  loss  of  from 
$150,000  to  $200,000  per  annum. 

By  a  system  of  most  rigid  economy  I  have  been  enabled  to 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  259 

reduce  the  issuance  of  scrip  to  less  than  $1,500,000  in  1879,  and 
in  1880  to  less  than  $590,000.  In  1881  I  hope  to  escape  the 
blot  of  scrip  entirely.  For  twenty-one  months  every  employe 
has  been  paid  in  cash.  The  city  cannot  legally  borrow  a  dollar, 
and  yet,  not  having  ready  money  to  meet  her  semi-annual  inter- 
est, she  was  compelled  to  hypothecate  the  interest  coupons  when 
due,  and  to  pay  a  heavy  commission  for  carrying  them  until 
taxes  could  be  collected.  These  illegal  commissions  cost  her 
each  year  from  $50,000  to  $70,000.  Since  1879  we  have 
promptly  met  our  interest  without  borrowing  or  paying  one 
cent  of  commissions.  Two  years  ago  the  city  owed  $249,000  of 
what  was  known  as  Hayes-Colvin  certificates.  These  the 
courts  had  declared  illegal.  But  our  good  name  demanded  that 
they  should  be  paid.  We  have  taken  them  all  up,  paying  them 
in  full,  together  with  interest,  the  whole  amounting  to  $275,643. 
In  1880  we  paid  off  $291,000  of  7-100  water  bonds,  and  re- 
funded $490,000  of  6  and  7  per  cent,  sewerage  bonds,  with  a 
like  amount  of  4^  per  cent,  bonds,  which  we  sold  at  over  2  per 
cent,  premium,  and  on  the  first  of  April  of  this  year  we  refunded 
$843,500  of  7  per  cent,  municipal  bonds,  with  a  like  amount  of 
4  per  cent,  bonds,  which  command  to-day  about  4  per  cent,  pre- 
mium. The  annual  savings  of  interest  thus  effected  amount  to 
$54,215.  In  former  years  the  sinking  fund  had  become  depleted 
by  the  amount  of  $236,024  ;  this  we  have  restored.  From  the 
appropriations  of  1879  and  1880  we  saved  $1,050,000.  This 
heavy  saving,  added  to  taxes  of  prior  years  collected,  and  to  cash 
from  various  sources,  enabled  us  to  contribute  to  the  appropri- 
ation for  1 88 1  $550,000,  and  yet  left  in  the  general  fund  nearly 
$1,500,000  as  a  reserve  to  meet  current  expenses,  and  to  enable 
us  to  avoid  the  issuance  of  scrip.  *  *  *  This  financial 
showing  I  make,  gentlemen,  not  boastfully,  but  to  enable 
you  and  the  people  to  enjoy  with  me  a  feeling  of  justifiable 
pride.  *  *  *  The  Department  of  Public  Works. — 
Under  the  immediate  eye  and  control  of  this  department  rests 
all  work  of  a  public  character.  Without  a  vigilant  care  and 
the  strictest  honesty,  thousands  of  dollars  would  be  annually 
squandered,  and  rings  of  a  most  dangerous  character  fostered. 
The  record  of  this  department  has  demonstrated  that  its  pres- 
ent head  thoroughly  understands  the  requirements  of  his  posi- 
tion, and  has  rendered  the  public  signal  service  by  his  firm 
course  in  awarding  contracts  upon  their  merits,  and  not  through 
favoritism.  Strict  business  principles  have  prevailed,  and  every 
contractor  has  been  fairly  and  honestly  served.      In  consequence 


260  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

there  has  been  a  most  free  and  healthy  competition  for  all  public 
works.  The  rings  that  predominated  before  have  been  routed 
at  every  turn.  Their  various  attempts  to  assert  themselves  in 
important  contracts  have  been  frustrated,  and  the  city  has  been 
a  gainer  thereby  by  thousands  of  dollars.  More  work  has  been 
accomplished  for  less  money  than  the  same  class  of  work  has  cost 
before,  and  small  appropriations  have  answered  where  larger 
ones  would  have  been  required,  were  the  old  order  of  things  in 
vogue.  *  *  *  I  believe  the  wooden  period  for  street  paving 
should  pass  away  from  Chicago.  Our  central  and  heavily  traf- 
ficked streets  need  something  more  durable  than  sappy  pine  or 
cedar  blocks  cut  from  burnt-over  swamps.  Granite  and  Medina 
sandstone  can  be  had  without  stint.  The  beauty  and  health  of 
the  city  require  that  such  pavements  should  become  the  rule, 
and  not  the  exception,  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  A  few  nervous 
gentlemen  may  object  to  the  noise,  but  they  should  remember  that 
the  music  of  the  pine-covered  forests  is  not  compatible  with  the 
busy  traffic  of  a  mighty  commercial  city.  *  *  *  The  Po- 
lice Department. — In  speaking  of  this  department,  I  can  say 
that  it  is  upon  a  most  efficient  and  satisfactory  footing.  Less 
crime  has  been  prevalent  than  heretofore,  and  the  morals 
of  the  city  were  never  in  better  condition.  The  chiefs  of  this 
department  have  rendered  me  prompt  and  energetic  service,  and 
criminals  have  found  it  safer  and  more  comfortable  to  remain 
away  from  the  city.  What  has  been  done  can  be  best  shown  by 
the  statement  that  while  the  recoveries  of  stolen  property  for 
the  years  1877  and  1878  were  within  $70,207  of  the  value  of 
property  reported  stolen,  they  were  only  $3 1,754  below  the  value 
of  stolen  property  in  1879  and  1880.  Besides,  the  value  of 
stolen  property  has  been  less  for  the  past  two  years  by  $69,444. 
*  *  *  In  connection  with  this  improved  state  of  affairs,  I 
desire  to  say  that  the  telephone  police  alarm  stations  have 
proved  a  most  valuable  adjunct  to  the  department.  We  began 
with  its  introduction  in  the  West  Twelfth  street  district,  which 
was  overrun  with  desperadoes,  roughs  and  footpads,  and  finding 
it  so  useful  in  summoning  police  to  apprehend  this  class, 
we  have  so  extended  the  system  to  other  portions  of  the  city 
that  districts  hitherto  comparatively  unprotected  are  now  thor- 
oughly under  police  surveillance.  There  have  been  established 
already  some  ninety  alarm  stations,  and  had  the  City  Council 
set  a  larger  appropriation  than  it  did,  we  should  cover  other  still 
remote  and  unprotected  sections.  But  for  this  change  the 
present  police  force  would  be  entirely  inadequate  to  meet  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  26 1 

demands  of  the  city.  Our  force  is  the  smallest  of  any  large  city 
in  the  country.  The  present  number  composing  it  is  almost  the 
same  as  it  was  when  we  had  a  little  over  half  of  our  present 
population.  Increased  efficiency  and  telephonic  communications 
have  rendered  the  force  doubly  serviceable,  and  aided  in  a  very 
material  and  perceptible  decrease  in  crime. 

For  this  telephonic  innovation  and  improvement  upon  old 
police  methods  we  are  chiefly  indebted  to  Prof.  John  P.  Barrett 
and  Mr.  Austin  J.  Doyle,  who  originated  and  perfected  the  sys- 
tem. The  system  contemplates  connections  with  business 
houses  and  private  residences,  and  already  several  have  availed 
themselves  of  its  benefit,  to  be  in  a  position  to  receive  prompt 
police  assistance  in  case  of  an  emergency.  It  has  already  proved 
itself  of  incalculable  value  to  the  department,  and  will  be  made 
to  cover  the  city  as  rapidly  as  means  will  permit.  *  *  * 
The  Fire  Department. — In  looking  over  the  records  of  this 
department  for  the  past  four  years,  I  find  that  it  has  not  only 
coped  more  successfully  with  fires,  but  kept  down  the  average 
loss  during  the  past  two  years  at  a  point  below  that  of  the  two 
preceding  years,  in  spite  of  the  greater  number  of  conflagrations 
in  the  latter  period.  In  1877  and  1878  there  were  923  fires,  and 
the  amount  of  loss  involved  was  $1,351,314,  making  the  average 
loss  $2,989,  while  in  1879  and  1880  there  were  1,606  fires,  and  a 
loss  of  $1,707,898,  making  the  average  loss  only  $1,980.  It  will 
be  accordingly  noted  from  this  that  while  there  were  683  more 
fires  during  the  past  two  years  than  during  the  two  preceding 
years,  the  average  loss  has  been  $1,009  less  f°r  the  Past  two 
years.  This  speaks  volumes  of  praise  for  the  effective  working 
of  the  force  as  at  present  constituted. 

Health  Department. — No  department  of  the  city  has 
shown  more  efficiency  during  my  term  of  office  than  this.  The 
city  has  grown  in  population  with  great  rapidity.  It  has  been  im- 
possible for  the  appliances  necessary  to  health  to  keep  pace  with 
this  growth.  While  the  population  of  the  city  is  that  of  one  of  cen- 
turies' growth,  the  street  pavements  and  sewerage  system  has  been 
necessarily  that  of  a  city  of  two  generations  of  men.  Many 
of  the  manufacturing  interests  have  extended  with  a  rapidity 
vastly  beyond  the  city's  growth  ;  some  of  these  interests  are  of  a 
character  ordinarily  offensive  to  the  senses,  and  supposed  to  be 
injurious  to  the  health.  A  quarter  of  a  century  ago  there  were 
packed  in  Chicago  56,000  hogs,  during  the  last  year  over  6,000,- 
000.  The  slaughtering  of  other  animals  has  increased  almost  as 
rapidly.      Nearly  all    of  this  growth    has  been  within   the  past 


262  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

decade.  The  great  amount  of  refuse  matter  from  this  vast 
horde  of  animals  has  to  be  taken  care  of.  The  most  of  it  is 
utilized.  This  naturally  gives  out  offensive  odors,  and  if  not 
promptly  attended  to,  breeds  disease.  For  years  the  summer  air 
was  offensive,  that  of  autumn  and  winter  often  almost  intolerable. 
Some  of  the  finest  portions  of  the  city  were  oftentimes  for  weeks 
unfit  for  delicate  people  to  live  in.  By  a  steady  perseverance, 
knowing  no  favor  and  fearing  no  opposition,  fighting  in  the 
courts,  abused  and  villified — the  head  of  the  health  department 
has  done  his  duty.  While  he  has  fought  stenches,  he  has  stood 
by  me  in  upholding  our  great  manufacturing  interests.  Conse- 
quently it  can  be  said  to-day  that  there  has  been  nothing  to 
offend  the  nostrils  within  eighteen  months.  *  *  *  The  flood 
pouring  from  an  overflowed  country  lately  caused  a  changed  water 
to  come  from  our  crib  and  affected  our  people  temporarily.  It  was 
injurious  to  very  weak  people  and  caused  strong  ones  (to  their 
bodily  discomfort)  to  take  to  so-called  mineral  water  or  to  in- 
dulge unusually  in  beer  or  liquor,  and  at  once  reporters  seeking 
items  find  doctors  eager  to  cry  "poison  in  our  water."  A  little 
precaution  for  a  week  or  so  every  few  years  can  prevent  our  peo- 
ple from  suffering,  and  during  all  the  remainder  of  their  lives 
here  they  enjoy  the  coolest  and  purest  water  of  the  inhabitants 
of  any  large  city  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

The  mortality  statistics  of  the  principal  American  cities 
were  quoted,  and  Chicago's  mortality,  20.8  per  1,000  of  popula- 
tion was  shown  to  be  lower  than  the  mortality  in  eight  principal 
cities.     The  message  continued  : 

One  of  the  questions  which  has  agitated  our  citizens  and  the 
public  press  lately  is  that  of  gambling.  On  this  subject  I  have 
been  severely  criticised  in  some  quarters  and  in  other  quarters 
as  eminently  respectable  I  have  been  indorsed  in  the  position  I 
have  assumed.  If  not  openly  it  has  been  very  generally  tacitly 
admitted  that  it  is  impossible  to  thoroughly  eradicate  the  evil, 
but  as  to  the  exact  course  to  pursue  toward  it,  a  diversity  of 
opinions  exists  among  those  who  have  examined  this  phase  of 
social  life.  "  We  cannot,"  some  say,  "rid  the  community  of  gam- 
bling, but  how  can  the  evil  be  reduced  to  its  minimum  effect?" 
There  seems  to  be  the  rub.  Those  who  have  so  rigorously  cried 
out  for  its  extermination  have  failed  to  suggest  any  possible 
or  practicable  plan  by  which  the  desired  end  can  be  accomplished. 
In  their  blind  zeal  they  seem  to  forget  the  essential  results  of  all 
attempts,  viz.:  That  every  effort  at  its  annihilation  has  been  a 
dismal  failure.     They  are  by  no  means  left  without  practical  ex- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  263 

amples  of  the  results  of  such  efforts.  If  they  would  only  pause 
in  their  frenzy  and  direct  their  attention  to  the  time  sporting  or 
club  houses  were  presumptively  closed,  they  would  easily  recall 
facts  that  indicated  that  not  only  the  private  precincts  of  hotels 
and  public  buildings,  but  fashionable  resorts,  were  invaded,  and 
games  of  chance  indulged  in.  There,  free  from  and  unobserved 
by  the  guardians  of  the  law,  young  as  well  as  old  were  "  taken  in 
and  fleeced."  A  few  wealthy  gamblers  managed  to  run  their 
places  behind  locked  doors  and  by  means  of  a  liberal  feeing,  offi- 
cers intrusted  to  see  that  there  was  no  gambling,  blinked  at  vio- 
lations of  the  law,  passed  on,  and  kept  the  central  authorities  in 
ignorance  of  their  existence.  When  it  was  finally  discovered 
that  one  place  was  in  full  blast,  the  police  made  a  descent  upon 
it,  an  explosion  of  powder  ensued,  and  the  case  went  into  the 
state  courts,  where  Judge  McAllister  held  substantially  that  po- 
lice officers  had  no  authority  to  break  in  the  doors  of  places 
where  it  was  not  absolutely  certain  that  gambling  was  being  reg- 
ularly conducted  therein.  This  decision  was  looked  upon  as  a 
victory  by  the  gamblers,  and  gambling  shops  opened,  with  various 
self-imposed  restrictions,  in  different  sections  of  the  city.  Ropers-in 
flourished  extensively,  and  gamblers  held  undisputed  sway  behind 
doubly  barred  and  screened  doors.  Subsequently  the  owners 
of  these  places  put  a  bold  front  to  their  vocation,  and  in  view  of 
former  experience,  the  then  existing  administration  evinced  no 
special  inclination  to  break  them  up.  They  were  accordingly  in 
a  high  tide  of  prosperity  long  before  I  entered  upon  the  Mayoralty, 
and  the  authorities  were  fully  cognizant  at  all  times  of  their 
location. 

Considering  what  the  results  had  been,  I  came  to  the 
conclusion,  on  becoming  Mayor,  that  the  evil  must  be  kept 
within  proper  bounds  and  restrictions.  More  than  that,  I  deter- 
mined to  restrict  these  houses  to  the  central  portions  of  the  city, 
where  they  could  be  closely  watched  and  kept  in  check.  By 
this  course  of  procedure  I  had  in  view  the  easy  and  unrestricted 
entrance  of  either  the  police,  to  detect  sharp  practices  by  the 
gamblers,  keep  minors  out,  and  find  any  crooked  person  who 
might  seek  its  enchantments,  or  of  business  men,  who  might  de- 
sire  to  see  whether  an  employe  was  squandering  money  surrep- 
titiously taken  from  his  funds.  By  such  course  as  I  have  thus 
outlined  I  have  had  the  indorsement  of  a  large  number  of 
citizens,  and  the  results  have  been  far  better  than  they  would 
have  been  under  different  conditions.  Under  the  apparent  rigid 
rule  in  vogue  in  1873,  there  were  in  the  city  forty-four  gambling 


264  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

establishments  and  twenty  odd  bunko  places;  in  1877,  over 
thirty  gambling  houses  and  a  dozen  or  more  bunko  rooms,  while 
during  1880  there  have  not  been  seventeen  of  the  former,  and 
not  a  single  bunko  establishment.  I  notice  the  correspondent 
of  the  Tribune  says  there  are  in  Washington  city,  with  a  popu- 
lation less  than  one-third  of  that  of  Chicago,  from  twenty-five  to 
thirty  gambling  houses  in  full  blast,  and  yet,  he  says,  they  pull 
them  frequently,  and  break  up  their  furniture.  The  present  state 
of  affairs  here  is  due  to  restrictions,  and  while  a  great  num- 
ber of  complaints  came  to  my  office  shortly  after  my  in- 
auguration, there  have  been  not  more  than  a  half  dozen  within 
the  past  eighteen  months.  The  plan  of  keeping  these  places  in 
the  heart  of  the  city  enables  the  police  officers  to  learn  where 
brace  boxes  are  played  upon  unsuspecting  victims.  Such  houses 
are  promptly  dealt  with.  Those  that  are  run  are  put  upon  their 
good  behavior ;  minors  are  excluded,  and  those  who  must  play 
protected  from  the  tricks  of  dealers,  and  games  of  a  character  cal- 
culated to  attract  the  man  of  small  means  and  the  young,  are  being 
entirely  prevented.  I  am  not  defending  gambling  per  se,  but  if  my 
position  is  wrong  in  dealing  with  it  from  a  practical  standpoint, 
the  people  have  their  remedy.  They  can  appeal  to  an  authority 
higher  than  mine,  and  strange  it  is  that  such  citizens  and  news- 
papers as  have  assailed  me  have  not  also  directed  their  batteries 
toward  that  authority.  Those  who  think  my  plan  not  the  best 
have  a  state  law  under  which  any  one  so  disposed  can  take  his 
hand  in  suppressing  gambling.  I  fear,  however,  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  not  mistaken  when  he  said  that  "statutory  enactments  can't 
turn  a  calf's  tail  into  a  third  hind  leg."  The  fireside,  the  lyceum 
and  the  well-stocked  public  library  will  do  more  than  laws  to 
suppress  social  evils.  But  those  who  differ  with  me  have  a  law 
under  which  a  citizen,  feeling  that  the  community  has  been  out- 
raged by  the  existence  of  gambling,  can  go  and  swear  out  a  war- 
rant and  secure  satisfaction.  The  Grand  Jury  are  open  to  his 
complaints,  and  even  the  assistance  of  the  State's  Attorney  can 
be  invoked.  In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  return  my  thanks  to  the 
members  of  the  outgoing  Council  and  to  the  heads  of  the  dif- 
ferent departments  for  their  kind  assistance  and  courtesies,  and 
to  ask  the  indulgence  and  aid  of  the  incoming  Council  in  all 
measures  looking  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  city. 

Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor. 
The  official  bond  of  Theodore  T.  Gurney,  Comptroller,  in 
the  sum  of  $100,000,  signed  by  Sidney  A.  Kent,  Henry  Botsford, 
John  B.  Lyon,  Sylvester  D.  Foss  and  Wiley  M.  Egan,  and  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  265 

official  bond  of  Charles  S.  Waller,  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works,  in  the  sum  of  $50,000,  signed  by  Edward  Waller.  Will- 
iam O.  George  and  James  L.  Waller  as  sureties,  were  approved 
by  the  Council  May  30,  as  also  were  the  bonds  of  William  J. 
McGarigle,  General  Superintendent  of  Police,  for  $25,000,  signed 
by  J.  H.  Whitbeck,  M.  J.  Sullivan  and  George  Schneider;  D.  J. 
Swenie,  Fire  Marshal,  for  $25,000,  signed  by  T.  E.  Courtney, 
Louis  Haas  and  Thomas  Lynch ;  Oscar  C.  DeWolf,  Health 
Commissioner,  for  $5,000,  signed  by  George  W.  Hale  and  Sex- 
tus  N.  Wilcox  as  sureties.  July  6,  1881,  Mayor  Harrison  sent 
the  following  communication  to. the  Council  in  reference  to  the 
assassination  of  President  James  A.  Garfield  by  Charles  J. 
Guiteau  : 

Mayor's  Office,  Chicago,  July  6,  1881. 

To  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago — Gentlemen  : 
Since  your  last  session  the  hand  of  an  assassin  has  been  lifted 
against  the  life  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  It  has 
caused  a  thrill  of  horror  to  fill  the  hearts  of  all  good  men 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  been  inexpressibly  shocked  that  such  an  attempt 
should  have  been  a  second  time  made  against  their  chief  magis- 
trate and  their  most  exalted  servant.  The  citizeas  of  Chicago 
have  had  but  one  feeling  aroused  by  this  horrible  deed — a  feel- 
ing mingled  with  detestation  of  the  great  crime,  and  heartfelt 
sympathy  with  President  Garfield  and  his  family.  While  they 
deeply  deplore  that  any  one  could  conceive  and  execute  so  das- 
tardly a  deed,  they  yet  know  that  it  was  the  act  of  a  single  man, 
and  not  the  conspiracy  of  others,  and  they  earnestly  condemn 
the  rancor  which  could  even  suggest  that  Guiteau 's  crime  was 
the  premeditated  act  of  any  faction  of  the  country.  They  recog- 
nize that  assassination  as  a  means  of  removing  a  public  servant 
can  never  become  a  growth  on  free  American  soil.  The  assas- 
sin may  shock  the  sentiment  of  Americans,  but  cannot  cause 
them  to  doubt  the  safety  of  the  Republic,  nor  can  he  materially 
disturb  the  equipoise  of  its  institutions.  Chicago  now  rejoices 
that  the  condition  of  the  President  gives  hopes  of  his  recovery. 
I  recommend  that  you  pass  resolutions  of  sympathy  with  him 
and  his  family.  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor. 

Aids.  Burley,  Wickersham  and  Hildreth  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  prepare  resolutions.  The  resolutions  were  adopted 
by  a  rising  vote  of  the  Council,  and  were  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of 
Chicago,  deeply  deplore  and  emphatically  condemn  the  recent 
attempt  to  assassinate  the  President  of  the  Republic. 


266  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIAN'S, 

Resolved,  That  the  act  was  one  of  unequaled  and  unparal- 
leled atrocity,  inasmuch  as  it  was  an  attempt  to  destroy  a  Chief 
Executive  who  blends  in  himself  the  qualities  that  distinguish  a 
President  and  a  Statesman,  and  adorn  a  man. 

Resolved,  That  we  trust  that  God  in  his  mercy  will  spare 
his  life  for  his  country's  sake. 

Resolved,  That  our  heartfelt  sympathies  are  extended  to  the 
President  and  his  family. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  our  records, 
and  that  a  copy  be  telegraphed  to  the  Honorable  Secretary  of 
State. 

September  20,  a  special  meeting  was  held  to  take  action  suit- 
able to  the  occasion,  the  Mayor  and  thirty-four  aldermen  being 
present.     The  Mayor  presented  the  following  message  : 

To  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  Chicago, 
in  City  Council  Assembled — Gentlemen  :  Last  night  while 
you  were  discussing  an  important  matter,  the  fire  gong  startled 
you  by  its  measured  toll  It  said,  "The  President  is  dead  !  " 
You  at  once  silently  adjourned.  I  have  called  you  together  to 
make  the  formal  announcement  that  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
United  States,  after  a  heroic  struggle  of  eighty  days  with  grim 
death,  has  at  last  given  up  the  fight — that  his  spirit  at  10:35  last 
night  winged  its  flight  to  the  presence  of  its  God,  leaving  behind 
it  a  name  which  will  live  as  long  as  history  continues  to  be  writ- 
ten. This  is  a  painful  announcement,  whether  you  think  of  James 
A.  Garfield  as  a  man  or  as  the  executive  head  of  this  mighty 
Republic.  As  a  man  he  had  his  faults,  perhaps,  for  who  that  is 
human  has  not?  But  his  virtues  were  even  greater  than  have  been 
bestowed  upon  even  a  minority  of  the  men  whom  the  world  has 
called  great.  He  was  a  kind  and  generous  friend,  a  loving  and 
gentle  husband,  and  a  devoted  father.  He  was  an  industrious 
public  servant,  and  endeavored  to  square  all  his  public  acts  by 
an  upright  and  peculiarly  sensitive  conscience.  He  was  an  earn- 
est patriot,  and  showed  his  love  for  his  country  on  the  battle-field 
as  well  as  in  the  legislative  halls.  He  was  ambitious,  but  his 
ambition  was  of  that  exalted  character  which  pined  for  an  eter- 
nal fame.  He  has  been  cut  off  in  a  manner  which  will  cause  his 
name  to  live  forever.  But  he  has  been  robbed  of  his  most  dar- 
ling wish,  which  was  that  he  would  fasten  his  name  to  some  act 
that  would  forever  endear  him  to  his  fellow-men.  As  President 
of  this  mighty  land,  had  he  been  spared,  this  most  earnest  desire 
might  have  been  gratified.  It  is  a  bitter  thing  for  such  a  man  to 
be  cut  off  thus  on  the  threshold  of  his  great  opportunity.      Re- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  267 

garding  him  as  a  man,  we  can  profoundly  mourn  his  untimely 
death ;  but  when  we  regard  him  as  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
United  States,  we  have  far  more  poignant  pain.  He  was  mur- 
dered, not  because  he  had  awakened  personal  animosity,  not 
because  he  had  embittered  a  human  life,  but  because  he  was  the 
chief  magistrate.  The  assassin  aimed  at  his  heart,  not  because 
that  heart  was  a  man's,  but  because  it  beat  beneath  a  President's 
breast.  It  is  a  terrible  thought  that  the  man  whom  a  nation  ex- 
alts to  be  its  chief  executive,  its  chief  servant,  should  be  a  target 
for  a  fanatic's  bullet.  Thank  God  but  one  feeling  animates  the 
hearts  of  all  men  and  women  in  this  broad  land — execration  and 
horror  of  the  deed,  and  of  the  wretch  who  perpetrated  it.  I 
hope  this  execration  will  grow  into  a  hatred  of  the  vile  system 
in  our  body  politic  which  maddened  Guiteau's  brain.  The  assas- 
sin of  the  President  was  a  mad  fanatic,  but  his  last  act  was  the 
result  of  political  pyaemia  in  our  governmental  fabric — greed  of 
office.  It  has  been  charged  that  the  black  axiom,  "  To  the  victor 
belong  the  spoils,"  was  promulgated  by  a  great  man.  Every 
friend  of  the  defender  of  New  Orleans  should  resent  the  vile 
aspersion.  To  that  axiom  we  owe  the  rapid  diffusion  of  the 
poison  which  belongs  to  the  spoils  system.  Office  is  for  the 
good  of  the  people,  and  not  spoils  for  the  officeholder.  That 
party  should  be  entitled  to  the  longest  life  in  this  country  which 
most  boldly  and  honestly  demands  that  this  upas  tree  of  Repub- 
lican institutions  be  eternally  and  utterly  eradicated.  The  death 
of  James  A.  Garfield  brings  this  hideous  monster  plainly  before 
the  eyes  of  the  world.  He  believed  in  reform  in  the  civil  ser- 
vice. His  countrymen  can  best  show  their  appreciation  of  his 
worth  by  following  what  he  would  advise  could  his  spirit  speak 
to  them  to-day.  Let  it  be  written  in  letters  of  blood,  "Guiteau's 
bullet  was  sped  by  the  spoils  system.  In  the  name  of  Garfield, 
death  to  the  vile  system." 

Gentlemen,  I  recommend  that  you  adopt  appropriate  resolu- 
tions, that  the  same  be  spread  upon  the  records,  and  that  you 
appoint  a  committee  of  the  Council  to  attend  the  funeral  of  our 
lamented  President,  and,  in  the  name  of  Chicago,  to  drop  a  tear 
upon  his  grave.  I  shall  issue  a  proclamation  calling  upon  all  the 
people  of  this  great  city  to  desist  from  all  labor  and  amusements 
during  the  hours  of  the  funeral,  and  thus  to  show  their  respect  for 
the  dead  President  of  the  United  States,  and  their  horror  of  the 
black  deed  which  so  untimely  took  him  off. 

Carter  H.   Harrison,  Mayor. 

Aids.  Wickersham,  Phelps,  Everett,  Young,  Meier  and  Bur- 


268  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ley  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  and  present  to  the 
Council  such  resolutions  as  they  might  deem  appropriate.  While 
the  committee  retired  Aid.  Burley  addressed  the  Council  as  fol- 
lows :  The  President  of  the  United  States  is  dead.  Again  we 
are  called  to  mourn  the  death  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  by  the 
hand  of  an  assassin.  Again  we  are  obliged  to  see  our  system  of 
Republican  government  tested,  and  let  us  hope  that  all  our  peo- 
ple will  now,  as  in  days  gone,  be  united  in  the  determination  that 
our  government  shall  stand.  Whatever  may  be  the  individual 
differences  of  opinion,  let  us  be  united  in  the  one  idea  that  in 
union  and  in  the  supremacy  of  law  lies  our  safety.  The  Presi- 
dent is  dead  !  Long  live  the  President.  The  President  is  dead, 
but  we  still  have  a  president  and  a  government.  While  we  mourn 
the  loss  of  our  late  honored  Chief  Magistrate,  let  us  reaffirm  our 
loyalty  to  our  government,  and  to  those  upon  whom  its  cares 
and  duties  devolve.  Let  us  pray  that  God  in  His  divine  provi- 
dence will  direct  our  rulers  and  guide  them,  and  preserve  our 
country  from  internal  dissensions  and  external  wars.  There  is 
little  to  be  said  upon  an  occasion  like  this.  I  cannot  avoid  ex- 
pressing my  admiration  for  the  man  we  have  lost,  and  expressing 
the  hope  that  his  successor  may  be  all  we  could  hope  or  wish  him 
to  be.  I  will  suggest  with  regard  to  the  resolutions  that  it  would 
be  proper  to  add  one  that  the  Mayor  and  a  Committee  of  Alder- 
men, to  be  appointed  by  him,  attend  the  funeral  ceremonies 
wherever  they  are  held,  as  representatives  of  the  city  of  Chicago. 
The  committee  presented  the  following  resolutions,  which 
were  adopted  by  a  rising  vote  : 

Whereas,  We  have  learned  with  profound  sorrow  and  re- 
gret of  the  death  of  the  eminent  and  respected  Chief  Magistrate 
of  the  nation,  James  A.  Garfield,  who,  during  his  short  occupan- 
cy of  the  highest  position  in  the  gift  of  a  great  people,  and  as 
the  ruler  of  50,000,000,  had  won  their  entire  confidence,  their  es- 
teem, and  their  admiration  by  his  manly  character,  his  broad 
views,  and  his  statesmanlike  qualities  ;  who  gave  promise  of  giv- 
ing our  country  an  administration  under  which  unexampled  pros- 
perity would  be  a  ruling  characteristic  alike  in  all  sections,  indus- 
tries of  all  kinds  fostered  and  encouraged  as  they  never  have 
been  encouraged  before  in  the  history  of  America,  and  our  rela- 
tions as  a  corporate  body-politic  established  on  a  closer,  firmer, 
and  more  intimate  and  amicable  basis  than  ever  before,  with  the 
other  nations  of  the  world  ;  and  who  had  evinced,  in  all  the 
rancors  of  political  strife  between  party  factions,  a  deep  sense  of 
a  feeling  which  should  always  animate  the  breast  of  a  great  peo- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  269 

pie — a  feeling  to  which  the  martyred  Lincoln  gave  memorable 
utterance  in  the  epigrammatic  sentence  :  ''With  malice  toward 
none,  with  charity  for  all,"  and, 

Whereas,  Our  grief  has  been  made  the  more  keen  and 
intense  by  the  fact  that  his  death  has  been  by  the  hand  of  an  un- 
principled and  dastardly  assassin  ;  that  in  his  demise  the  law- 
lessness, utter  abandonment  and  recklessness  of  a  man  should  be 
made  manifest  in  a  country  of  pure  and  liberal  principles,  where 
"life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness"  is  guaranteed  to  all 
in  the  Constitution  of  our  land,  and  that  the  wish  of  all  for  his 
continued  administration  should  thus  be  ruthlessly  set  aside,  by 
one  iniquitous  individual ;  and, 

Whereas,  Our  sense  of  sorrow  is  also  most  deeply  touched 
at  a  time  when  it  seemed  that,  after  so  long  and  anxious  waiting- 
for  his  recovery,  he  might  still  be  saved  to  the  nation,  and  that 
the  long  and  heroic  struggle  he  made  for  life  gave  hopes  for  a 
return  of  health  ;  therefore  be  it, 

Resolved,  That  we  extend  to  the  family  of  our  late  Chief 
Magistrate  our  heartfelt  and  tender  sympathy  in  their  irrepara- 
ble loss. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  proper  mark  of  respect  the  City  Hall 
be  draped  in  mourning  for  the  period  of  thirty  days,  and  that  on 
the  day  of  the  funeral  ceremonies,  his  Honor,  the  Mayor,  direct 
that  all  the  public  offices  and  schools  be  closed,  and  that  he  re- 
quest that  all  places  of  amusement  be  closed,  and  business  be 
suspended. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the  rec- 
ords of  this  Council,  and  that  copies  be  sent  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  heads  of  departments  in  Washington, 
and  to  the  family  of  the  late  President 

Resolved,  That  his  Honor,  the  Mayor,  and  a  committee  of 
nine  Aldermen,  to  be  appointed  by  him,  attend  the  funeral  cere- 
monies wherever  they  are  held,  as  representatives  of  the  city  of 
Chicago. 

The  Mayor  and  Committee  of  Aldermen,  accompanied  by  a 
committee  of  the  County  Board,  attended  the  funeral  ceremonies 
at  Cleveland,  O.  On  the  same  day  there  was  an  imposing  dem- 
onstration of  military  and  civic  organizations  in  Chicago,  the 
procession  accompanying  a  catafalque  through  the  principal 
streets  of  the  city. 

The  excitement  attending  Guiteau's  infamous  act  was  in- 
tense. Crowds  of  people  surrounded  the  newspaper  and  tele- 
graph offices  daily  to  learn  the  latest  particulars  of  the  President's 


27O  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

condition.  When  the  announcement  came,  on  the  evening  of 
September  19,  that  he  had  breathed  his  last  in  the  cottage  at 
Elberon,  the  Council  was  in  session,  and  when  the  fire-gongs 
began  their  dismal  toll  the  Chairman's  gavel  fell,  and  the  Council 
arose  in  a  body  and  adjourned  with  silent  impressiveness.  All 
public  and  many  private  buildings  in  the  city  were  profusely 
draped  with  mourning  emblems,  and  in  no  city  in  the  Union  was 
detestation  of  this  black  crime  in  the  history  of  the  nation  more 
conspicuously  expressed,  nor  was  sympathy  with  the  President's 
bereaved  family  more  genuine  and  spontaneous.  That  portion 
of  the  Mayor's  first  communication  deploring  a  certain  mani- 
festation of  rancor,  had  reference  to  inuendoes  in  certain  organs 
of  the  so-called  Blaine  or  "  Featherhead"  Republican  faction, 
that  the  assassination  was  satisfactorily  received  by  the  "  Stal- 
warts," the  opposing  faction  in  the  party.  The  public  generally 
repudiated  this  partisan  attempt  to  create  a  suspicion  that  any 
portion  of  the  people  were  gratified  at  the  commission  of  this 
infamous  crime.  Charles  J.  Guiteau,  the  assassin,  was  called  by 
many  newspapers  a  Chicago  "  crank,"  but  he  was  no  more  a 
Chicago  product  than  of  other  cities  which  he  made  his  residence 
during  a  strange  and  erratic  career.  His  parents  lived  in  Free- 
port,  111.,  and  at  one  time  he  wandered  through  the  wilds  of  the 
West  in  a  religious  frenzy.  His  history  is  now  too  well  known 
to  need  repetition.  When  in  this  city  he  lived  a  portion  of  the 
time  with  his  brother-in-law,  George  Scoville,  a  lawyer,  who  had 
married  his  sister  some  years  before.  He  resorted  to  the  Public 
Library  a  great  deal  in  the  preparation  of  his  peculiar  religious 
pamphlets.  Lawyer  Scoville  and  Charles  H.  Reed,  ex-State's 
Attorney  of  Cook  county,  who  had  taken  up  his  residence  in 
Washington  some  time  before,  defended  Guiteau  in  his  trial. 
While  the  general  belief  in  Chicago  was  that  Guiteau  was  insane, 
and  witnesses  were  summoned  from  this  city  to  attest  the  fact, 
physicians  expert  in  insanity  disagreed,  and  Guiteau  was  exe- 
cuted. Many  of  those  who  believed  him  insane  did  not  regret 
his  partial  expiation  of  the  crime,  and  esteemed  it  a  salutary 
public  warning  to  criminal  malefactors  or  murderously  inclined 
"cranks" — the  latter  being  a  term  fittingly  applied  to  Guiteau 
and  to  individuals  possessing  his  traits,  by  the  public  press  of 
the  country. 

September  12,  1881,  the  Council  by  a  rising  vote  adopted 
the  following  resolutions  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  young, 
brave  and  popular  Major  John  H.  Lannigan,  deceased  : 

Resolved,  That  as  members  of  the  City  Council  of  the   city 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  2' 7  I 

of  Chicago,  we  desire  to  place  upon  the  records  of  this  Council  a 
tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  Major  John  H.  Lannigan. 
Major  Lannigan  was  born  in  1844  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  came  to 
Chicago  in  1861,  enlisted  as  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Twenty- 
third  Illinois  Infantry,  Col.  Mulligan  commanding,  and  served 
with  bravery,  fidelity  and  distinction  in  that  regiment  till  it  was 
mustered  out  at  the  close  of  the  war,  being  in  the  meantime  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant.  He  was  at  the  battle  of 
Winchester  when  Col.  Mulligan  was  killed.  He  returned  to 
Chicago  after  the  war,  and  in  1874  entered  the  employ  of  the 
city,  being  connected  with  the  Treasurer's  office  from  that  time 
to  the  day  of  his  death.  For  the  past  two  years  he  has  held  the 
position  of  Assistant  Inspector  General  of  the  state  militia,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Second  Regiment,  holding  the  position  of 
Major.  His  sudden  death  has  caused  a  shock  to  all  who  knew 
him.  He  was  a  gentleman,  kind,  courteous,  and  ever  friendly  to 
all,  and  possessed  in  a  high  degree  all  that  the  word  gentleman 
implies.  His  connection  with  the  City  Treasurer's  office  for 
over  seven  years  has  made  him  familiar  to  every  person  connected 
with  this  Council  and  with  the  city  officers,  and  to  every  one 
having  business  with  the  treasury.  His  courteous  and  obliging 
manners  have  endeared  him  to  all ;  his  integrity  and  fidelity  in 
the  city's  employ  calls  for  respect  and  honor,  and  his  pleasant 
and  lovable  nature  has  made  him  the  kind  friend.  On  Wednes- 
day, the  7th  inst.,  he  left  his  desk  slightly  ill.  On  Saturday,  the 
10th  inst,  he  sent  word  that  he  would  be  on  duty  the  Monday 
following.  Saturday  he  became  worse,  and  on  Sunday  died  in 
the  bloom  and  vigor  of  manhood,  deeply  mourned  by  mother 
and  sisters,  in  whose  midst  he  passed  away,  regretted,  and  his 
loss  deplored  by  his  friends,  but  with  the  honor  and  respect  of 
all  for  his  manly,  upright,  and  blameless  life. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  published  in  the  regular 
proceedings  of  this  Council,  and  that  the  Clerk  cause  a  copy  of 
the  resolutions  to  be  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

In  a  message  to  the  Council  September  19,  Mayor  Harrison 
referred  to  the  bridge  nuisance  in  the  following  language  :  "The 
bridge  nuisance  has  grown  to  be  almost  intolerable.  Sooner  or 
later  the  river,  at  least  from  the  junction  of  the  two  branches  up 
to  some  point  near  the  mouth  of  the  canal,  must  be  closed  and  a 
new  channel  cut  thence  to  the  lake.  The  West  side  is  now  half 
of  the  city,  and  it  will  not  long  submit  to  the  delays  and  vexa- 
tions caused  by  the  opening  and  closing  of  the  bridges.  The 
change   I    indicate    is  one  of  great   magnitude,  and   cannot   be 


272  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

brought  about  for  several  years.  But  in  the  meantime  some- 
thing must  be  done.  Tunnels  do  not  seem  to  satisfy  the  people. 
Immediate  relief  can  only  be  brought  about  by  numerous 
bridges,  and  those  bridges  to  be  as  wide  as  the  streets  leading  to 
them,  so  as  to  admit  the  passage  of  teams,  as  along  the  streets. 
In  London  and  Paris  the  bridges  are  all  now  being  built  of  equal 
width  with  the  streets.  But  there  such  bridges  do  not  require  to 
be  drawn,  as  here.  Ours  must  be  drawbridges.  So  few  locali- 
ties require  such  structures  that  inventive  genius  is  not  called 
into  activity  to  devise  new  systems  and  plans  sufficient  to  enable 
double  rows  of  teams  to  cross  and  yet  not  narrow  the  channel  of 
the  river  when  vessels  are  passing.  I  have  thought  much  of 
this,  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  we  can  get  the  aid  of 
inventive  genius  only  by  offering  a  generous  reward  for  the  best 
practical  plan  for  a  drawbridge  suitable  to  our  necessities.  I 
recommend,  therefore,  that  you  empower  the  Mayor  to  offer  a 
reward  of  $5,000  for  such  plan,  the  same  not  to  be  paid  unless 
something  valuable  be  submitted,  and  to  pay  such  rewards  out 
of  moneys  not  otherwise  appropriated." 

October  26  the  Mayor  submitted  a  communication  in  refer- 
ence to  a  letter  from  Walker  Blaine,  Third  Assistant  Secretary 
of  State,  announcing  that  the  representatives  of  Baron  Von 
Steuben  would  arrive  in  Chicago  October  30,  and  requesting 
that  the  municipality  should  receive  them.  The  matter  was  left 
in  the  hands  of  the  Mayor  with  power  to  act.  The  distinguished 
guests  were  tendered  a  public  reception  by  the  city  officials  at 
the  Palmer  house  upon  their  arrival. 

November  28  the  Council  adopted  the  following  resolution, 
tendering  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  visiting  officials  from  New 
Orleans  : 

Whereas,  The  reception  tendered  by  the  municipality  of 
New  Orleans  last  spring  to  the  Mayor,  Chief  of  Police,  Firemen 
and  Aldermen  of  Chicago  who  visited  the  Crescent  City,  was 
spontaneous  and  generous  ;  and 

Whereas,  Aid.  Fitzpatrick,  Administrator  of  Finance,  Aid. 
Meally  and  Fagan,  Sheriff  Duffy,  and  other  city  officials,  are  now 
on  their  way  here  ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Chicago  be  ten- 
dered these  gentlemen  during  their  visit,  and  that  a  committee 
of  three  be  appointed  by  His  Honor  the  Mayor,  to  receive  the 
guests  and  make  such  arrangements  as  may  conduce  to  their 
comfort  during  their  stay  in  our  city 

Aids.  Hildreth,  Hulbert  and  Peevey  were  appointed  as  such 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  273 

committee.  February  6,  1882,  Mayor  Harrison  submitted  his 
annual  message  to  the  Council,  from  which  the  following  excerpts 
were  taken  : 

To  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago, — Gen- 
tlemen :  The  time  for  the  presentation  of  the  Mayor's  annual 
message  has  been  established  by  custom  on  the  inaugura- 
tion of  a  new  Council.  The  fiscal  year  ends  with  the  31st  of 
December,  and  as  the  new  Council  does  not  take  its  seat  until 
the  first  week  in  May,  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  proper  time 
for  laying  before  you  statements  and  suggestions  in  regard  to 
the  conduct  of  municipal  affairs  ought  to  be  made  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible after  the  end  of  the  year,  instead  of  four  months  thereafter, 
I  have,  therefore,  decided  to  take  a  new  departure  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  with  your  kind  indulgence,  will  set  forth  the  operations 
of  the  city  government  for  the  year  just  closed.  *  *  *  What 
I  now  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  at  the  outset,  is  the  fact 
that  for  the  first  time  in  several  years,  the  city  has  not  been 
obliged  during  1881  to  issue  any  "city  scrip."  In  my  last  message 
I  said  I  would  earnestly  endeavor  to  so  manage  the  municipal 
affairs  as  to  evade  any  necessity  for  issuing  the  paper.  The  city, 
I  hope,  will  never  again  be  compelled  to  resort  to  the  cumber- 
some system.  This  can  be  done  only  by  properly*  guarding  the 
general  fund  so  that  we  may  pay  cash  as  we  go.  *  *  *  The 
exhibits  I  herewith  give  have  been  prepared  by  Comptroller 
Gurney,  and  show  what  has  been  done  in  the  finance  department 
for  the  last  year. 

Amount  of  taxes  received  during  the  year  1881,  $4,115,- 
408.04  ;  $251,000  of  the  above  amount  was  for  taxes  of  1881. 

Amount  in  treasury  at  close  of  year,  $755,479.26.  Amount 
expended  by  Department  of  Public  Works,  $684,445.69;  for 
maintenance  of  the  Fire  Department,  $568,760.87.  Police  De- 
partment, $576,815.52.  Amount  expended  by  the  School  De- 
partment for  construction,  janitors  and  office  employes,  $678,- 
180.23.  Amount  paid  for  superintendent  and  teachers,  $663,- 
972.49.  Savings  from  appropriation  of  18S1,  approximated 
$100,000.00.  Income  for  the  year  1882,  approximated  350,- 
000.00.  Water  bonds  due  July  1,  1882,  $333,000.  These  figures 
forcibly  demonstrate  the  desirability  of  this  city  for  residence  and 
business  purposes.  Merchants  and  manufacturers  elsewhere  are 
beginning  to  appreciate  the  fact,  and  our  population  is  being 
rapidly  increased  by  accessions  from  their  ranks.  *  *  *  I 
have  reliable  information  that  during  this  year  there  will  be  a 
very  large  increase   of    manufacturing  interests  in   the  city,   by 

iS 


274  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

reason  of  heavy  establishments  locating-  branches,  or  entirely- 
moving  here.  *  *  *  A  little  over  a  year  ago  the  Health 
Department  was  authorized  to  establish  a  system  of  inspectors 
•of  manufactories  ;  although  the  system  is  but  partially  perfected, 
•enough  statistics  have  been  gathered  to  establish  the  fact  that 
there  are  over  135,000  operatives  employed  in  manufacturing 
'establishments  in  this  city.  This  is  a  startling  fact,  when  one 
remembers  that  forty-five  years  ago  Chicago  was  a  village,  and 
that  twenty  years  since,  excepting  agricultural  machinery,  we 
had  virtually  no  manufactures.  *  *  *  Our  police  depart- 
ment is  at  present  in  a  most  active  and  efficient  condition.  I 
can  see  no  possible  means  of  increasing  the  force,  unless  you 
will  use  your  chartered  rights  to  raise  money  by  a  judicious, 
and  at  the  same  time,  comprehensive  system  of  license.  *  *  * 
Without  such  system  we  can  do  no  more  than  to  strengthen 
and  improve  what  is  already  at  our  command. 

The  message  recommended  that  in  addition  to  $40,000 
already  expended  on  the  police  telephone,  or  patrol  system,  the 
system  be  carried  out  and  perfected  at  an  additional  cost  of 
$60,000,  and  the  running  expenses  of  the  system  were  estimated 
at  $49,380  per  annum.  The  total  number  of  arrests  during  the 
year  was  given  at  31,713;  the  fines  assessed  amounted  to 
$163,937,  and  the  value  of  stolen  property  of  all  kinds  recovered, 
$108,802.56.  The  work  of  the  Fire  Department  for  the  year 
was  shown  to  have  been  fully  up  to  its  standard  of  excellence. 
The  department  responded  to  1,104  alarms,  eight  of  which  were 
outside  the  city  limits,  89  false  alarms,  and  112  false  and  still 
alarms.  The  valuation  of  the  property  involved  was  $19,738,508  ; 
amount  of  insurance,  $9,662,326  ;  estimated  loss  by  fire,  $921,495, 
or  an  average  loss  for  each  fire  in  the  city  of  $1,029.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  operations  of  the  Health  Department  reference  was 
had  to  an  epidemic  of  small-pox,  and  general  and  thorough  vac- 
cination was  urged  as  a  safeguard.  The  origin  of  the  disease 
was  attributed  to  the  large  number  of  immigrants  who  had  come 
to  the  city  or  had  passed  through  on  their  way  to  the  West. 
The  mortality  of  the  city  during  the  year  was  13,  830,  or  at  the 
rate  of  25.61  in  each  1,000  of  population.  In  connection  with 
the  schools  it  was  shown  that  the  increase  of  children  of  school 
age  had  been  20,000,  or  about  the  same  average  as  for  nine  years 
previous.  Seven  new  school  buildings,  with  accommodations  for 
•6,237  pupils.  The  number  attending  half-day  sessions  on 
account  of  lack  of  accommodations,  was  9,594  during  the  month 
of  November.     There  had  been  a  very  decided   increase   in   the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  275 

funds  from  water  collections,  the  receipts  being  $936,639.24, 
while  for  the  previous  year  they  were  $865,618.35.  The  earnings 
of  the  House  of  Correction  were  placed  at  $32,865.43  above  all 
expenses,  which  were  $72,800.  The  message  also  made  refer- 
ence to  the  old  lake  tunnel,  which  had  been  closed  fifteen 
years  before,  and  it  was  set  forth  that  in  obedience  to  the  order 
of  the  Council  the  water  had  been  pumped  out,  and  it  had  been 
found  in  an  admirable  condition.  While  the  new  tunnel  was 
seven  feet  in  diameter,  there  was  no  doubt  but  that  in  the  near 
future  the  demand  for  water  would  exceed  the  capacity  of  both 
tunnels,  and  the  message   recommended  the  enlargement  of  the 

o  ... 

old  tunnel  from  five  feet  to  seven  or  eight  feet  in  diameter.  The 
message  set  forth  that  there  had  been  459  transfers  of  saloon  li- 
censes during  the  license  year,  and  recommending  action  by  the 
Council  that  would  prevent  loss  to  the  city  in  the  collection  of 
license  fees  growing  out  of  the  privilege  of  transfer,  which  many 
saloonkeepers  had  abused.     The  message  continued : 

One  more  suggestion,  and  I  will  conclude.  This  city  is 
destined  to  be  one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  world.  Nothing 
but  some  dire  political  revolution  can  check  her  growth.  In 
providing  for  the  wants  of  to-day  we  should  look  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  great  future.  Public  improvements  ample  for  to- 
day  will  prove  wholly  inadequate  to-morrow.  We  should  en- 
deavor to  provide  for  the  morrow  not  only  what  will  be  needed 
materially,  but  also  for  the  demands  of  a  refined  and  refining 
taste.  It  cannot  be  expected  that  the  people  of  to-day  will  or 
should  rob  themselves  to  gratify  the  people  of  the  future.  No 
city  in  a  free  country  can  be  made  magnificent  out  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  immediate  taxation.  It  should  be  made  grand,  but 
coming  generations  should  help  to  bear  expense.  We  should  pay 
every  cent  needed  for  present  municipal  purposes,  but  we  should 
provide  for  future  Chicago,  and  should  ask  that  future  to  help 
us  so  provide.  That  can  be  done  only  by  issuing  bonds  for 
great  and  permanent  public  improvements.  To  this  end  the 
legislature  should  be  asked  to  move  for  a  change  in  the  state's 
constitution,  to  permit  to  issue  bonds  for  such  permanent  im- 
provements. Checks  should  be  so  thrown  around  the  issuance 
of  such  bonds  that  extravagance  may  not  be  fostered,  and  that 
speculative  and  corrupt  rings  may  not  be  brought  into  existence. 
Bonds  should  be  permitted  to  be  issued  only  to  a  limited 
amount  during  any  one  year,  and  should  only  be  for  permanent 
improvements.  Some  means  will  have  to  be  devised  for  car- 
rying sewage  out  of  the  city,  and  a  water  system  must  in  a  short 


276  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

time  be  inaugurated  sufficient  for  a  million  of  people.  Our 
present  tunnels  will  be  ample  for  700,000  to  800,000  people  ; 
we  will  reach  that  before  1890.  We  should  have  viaducts  of  a 
permanent  character,  of  stone.  These  and  their  approaches  will 
be  very  costly,  and  in  a  few  years  we  shall  have  to  turn  over 
our  new  City  Hall  to  the  courts  of  the  county.  A  new  city 
hall  will  then  have  to  be  built.  It  should  be  commensurate 
with  the  wealth  of  Chicago.  We  shall  need  each  year  large 
and  airy  public  schools.  All  of  these  public  improvements 
should  be  built,  not  for  to-day,  but  for  hereafter.  The  wealth 
of  the  future  should  be  drawn  upon  for  their  cost.  In  conclusion, 
gentlemen,  permit  me  to  thank  you  for  your  uniform  courtesy  to 
me  and  for  your  hearty  co-operation  in  all  matters  of  great  pub- 
lic interest.  Gentlemen,  since  the  foregoing  was  written,  a  so- 
called  report  of  the  late  Grand  Jury  of  Cook  county  has  been 
published  in  the  papers,  which  is  so  unjust  to  the  Mayor  and  the 
Police  Department  that  I  feel  I  owe  to  you  a  refutation  of  its 
false  slanders.  Sometime  I  was  told  by  a  well-known  Republican 
that  a  certain  number  of  that  Grand  Jury  intended,  if  possible,  to 
besmirch  me  in  the  jury  report.  He  told  me  that  he  himself  was 
not  my  friend  in  any  sense,  but  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  Grand 
Jury  being  used  as  a  political  machine,  and  he  therefore,  wished 
me  to  know  that  this  scheme  was  on  foot.  The  regular  report 
of  the  Grand  Jury  is  signed  by  its  foreman,  but  there  is  published 
what  purports  to  be  a  supplemental  report,  with  no  signature. 
The  Grand  Jury  is  instructed  and  sworn  not  to  divulge  what 
transpires  during  its  sessions  ;  yet  this  paper  pretends  to  report 
the  testimony  given  by  myself  and  by  the  Chief  of  Police  and 
other  policemen.  It  has  these  words  :  "He  (the  Mayor)  denied, 
however,  to  be  in  possession  of  the  slightest  evidence  on  which  a 
Grand  Jury  could  act ;  but  admitted  in  the  same  breath  to  have 
forced  the  owners  of  gambling  houses,  citing  that  of  M.  C. 
McDonald  in  particular,  by  threats  of  a  raid,  to  refund  money 
lost  in  their  establishments."  This  is  false.  I  made  no  such 
denial.  I  told  them  I  had  seen  keno  played  in  two  establish- 
ments less  than  a  year  ago,  and  named  the  houses  ;  that  I  went 
to  them  for  that  purpose,  and  that  I  had  ordered  keno  stopped, 
and  had  caused  one  of  the  houses  to  be  raided  for  not  obeying 
the  order ;  but  that  I  had  not  personally  seen  any  other  in  any  of 
the  so-called  gambling  houses.  I  did  tell  them  that  I  asked 
McDonald  by  note  to  refund  money  claimed  to  have  been  lost  in 
his  house  ;  that  the  said  McDonald  had  come  to  me  and  asked  if 
I  really  wished  him  to  give  this  money  back,  and  went  away  leav- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  277 

ing  upon  my  mind  the  impression  that  he  would  not  do  so,  and 
thereupon  I  had  ordered  his  house  pulled.  But  I  did  not  say  I 
had  threatened  McDonald  that  I  would  raid  his  house  ;  I  told 
them  that  about  dusk  of  that  day  a  partner  of  a  prominent  law 
firm  had  telephoned  me  that  McDonald  had  repaid  the  money. 
The  Grand  Jury  could  easily  have  summoned  the  members  of  this 
law  firm,  and  so  obtained  all  the  testimony  necessary.  I  told 
them  I  had  gotten  back  other  moneys  lost.  They  did  not  ask 
who  were  the  parties  paying  the  same ;  they  were  not  looking  for 
testimony. 

This  paper  says  :  "  He  (the  Mayor)  admitted  finally  to 
have  instructed  the  police  repeatedly  to  permit  gambling  under 
certain  restrictions."  This  is  false  !  In  answer  to  a  question  if 
I  had  not  done  so,  I  stated  most  positively  that  I  had  never 
given  any  such  instructions,  but  that  I  had  instructed  the  police 
that  if  minors,  drunken  men  or  poor  mechanics  were  allowed  to 
play  in  any  house,  or  if  suppers  were  furnished  or  liquors  given 
away  or  sold,  or  if  ropers-in  were  employed,  or  cards  of  adver- 
tisement were  issued,  or  if  a  house  was  kept  open  after  seven 
o'clock  Saturday  evenings,  then  the  house  or  houses  so  offending 
must  be  raided  ;  that  otherwise  I  left  the  matter  to  the  discretion 
of  the  Police  Department.  This  paper  says  :  "  Mayor  Harrison 
claims  that  the  laws  against  gambling  could  not  be  enforced  with- 
out detriment  to  the  public."  This  is  entirely  false !  I  told 
them  that  I  could  do  better  by  attempting  to  close  them  up,  as 
previous  administrations  had  attempted  to  do,  with  signal  failure, 
and  then  told  them  there  were  fewer  gambling  establishments  in 
the  city  to-day  than  had  been  during  any  administration  since 
the  fire.  The  man  who  wrote  this  so-called  report  is  a  bitter 
enemy  of  mine,  and,  I  have  learned,  got  himself  appointed  on 
the  Grand  Jury,  and  boasted  to  one  of  the  fellow  jurors,  before 
they  were  sworn  in,  that  he  intended  making  things  hot  for  the 
Mayor.  The  Chief  of  Police  and  the  Chief  of  Detectives  fur- 
nished the  jury  with  a  list  of  all  of  the  gambling  houses  known 
to  them  in  the  city.  On  this  list,  opposite  each  house,  on  one 
side  was  the  names  of  those  reputed  and  believed  by  the  police 
to  be  the  owners,  and  on  the  other  side  the  names  of  men  em- 
ployed in  the  respective  houses,  who  claimed  and  acknowledged 
themselves  as  owners,  and  in  two  instances  the  same  name  was 
on  each  side.  And  yet,  with  this  testimony,  this  report  falsely 
states  that  no  evidence  was  furnished  them  on  which  they  could 
find  an  indictment.  They  could  have  found  true  bills  against 
the  reputed  owners,  and  the  State's  Attorney  could  easily  have 


278  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

found  testimony  to  convict.  They  could  have  found  true  bills 
against  those  who  claimed  and  confessed  themselves  to  be 
owners,  and  the  witnesses  were  before  them  to  prove  the  con- 
fession, and  to  prove  that  those  men  were  dealers  or  regular 
partners  in  the  several  houses.  This  Grand  Jury,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  itself,  did  not  wish  to  hurt  the  gamblers,  and  one 
man  was  bent  upon  throwing  mud  upon  the  city  officials  for 
political  purposes,  and  others  permitted  this  paper,  concocted  in 
the  office  of  a  political  newspaper,  to  be  attached  to  the  regular 
report  of  the  jury.  And  yet  this  Grand  Jury,  which  violates  its 
oath  in  divulging  what  transpired  during  its  sessions,  which 
perverts  the  truth  or  positively  asserts  falsehoods  in  this  so-called 
supplemental  report,  sets  itself  up  to  be  the  moral  censor  of  the 
city  administration,  and  made  itself  the  tool  of  one  man,  who 
got  himself  upon  the  jury  to  vent  his  personal  venom,  and  to 
make  political  capital.  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor. 

April  21  the  Council  passed  the  annual  appropriation  bill  ; 
the  amount  appropriated  and  ordered  levied  for  the  fiscal  year, 
January  1,  1882,  to  December  31,  1S82,  being  $4,227,402.29. 
Following  is  an  abstract  of  the  votes  cast  for  the  election  of 
members  of  the  new  Council,  April  4,  1882  : 

First  ward,  Swayne  Wickersham,  Dem.,  903  ;  William  B. 
Clapp,  Rep.,  525.  Second  ward,  Patrick  Sanders,  Dem.,  1,515  ; 
Marx  Wineman,  Rep.,  705  ;  John  Gelder,  Ind.  Dem.,  51.  Third 
ward,  Daniel  L.  Shorey,  Rep.,  865  ;  Melvin  McKee,  Dem.,  543. 
Fourth  ward,  William  W.  Watkins,  Rep.,  774  ;  Sylvester  D. 
Foss,  Rep.,  1,370  ;  Frank  Baker,  Dem.,  526.  Fifth  ward,  Ed- 
ward P.  Burke,  Dem.,  2,405  ;  Fred.  Aye,  Ind.,  896 ;  Edward 
O'Hare,  Rep.,  1,080.  Sixth  ward,  E.  F.  Cullerton,  Dem.,  1,950; 
John  W.  Garney,  Rep.,  1,183.  Seventh  ward,  James  H.  Hil- 
dreth,  Dem..  1,674  ;  G.  H.  Torrey,  Rep.,  273  ;  M.  Sebastian, 
Ind.,  11.  Eighth  ward,  Frank  Lawler,  Dem.,  2,044.  Timothy 
E.  Ryan,  Dem.,  1,117;  Jas.  Kelly,  64.  Ninth  ward,  Michael 
Gaynor,  Dem.,  1,745;  Ira  H.  Tubbs,  Rep.,  624  ;  John  C.  Boyd, 
35.  Tenth  ward,  George  E.  White,  Rep.,  1,028  ;  Henry 
Schraeder,  Dem..  415.  Eleventh  ward,  Thomas  N.  Bond,  Rep., 
1,164;  Samuel  Simons,  Rep.,  507;  Thos.  E.  Courtney,  Dem., 
143.  Twelfth  ward,  John  Marder,  Rep.,  1,746  ;  Henry  Baker, 
Ind.  Rep.,  1.335.  Thirteenth  ward,  John  E.  Dalton,  Dem.,  1,- 
423;  Bart  Quirk,  Rep.,  725.  Fourteenth  ward,  Michael  Ryan, 
Dem.,  1,559  >  Jacob  Stampen,  Socialist,  619;  John  J.  Bloch,  Ind. 
Dem.,  286;  Henry  K.  Thornbush,  Rep.,  179;  Michael  O'Day, 
Dem.,   371  ;    Henry   C.    Kersting,    Ind.,    69.       Fifteenth  ward, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  279 

James  M.  Ouinn,  Dem.,  1,016  ;  Wm.  S.  Young,  Rep.,  625  ;  John 
McCauley,  Ind.,  695;  J.  C.  Petersen,  178.  Sixteenth  ward, 
John  H.  Colvin,  Dem.,  880;  Anton  Imhoff,  519;  Fred.  Kerstens, 
36;  Matthias  E.  Essner,  434;  Wm.  DeWalcl,  19.  Seventeenth 
ward,  John  Sweeney,  Dem.,  1,117;  Jontl  Murphy,  Rep.,  1,092. 
Eighteenth  ward,  John  E.  Geohegan,  Dem.,  1,423;  Augustus  H. 
Burley,  Rep.,  1,089. 

During  the  year  1882  Mayor  Harrison  made  the  following 
appointments  : — Directors  of  the  Public  Library,  William  Curran, 
T.  C.  McMillan,  Adolph  Moses,  Harry  Rubens,  W.  H.  Wells 
and  John  W.  Enright,  vice  William  Curran,  resigned.  Members 
of  the  Board  of  Education,  M.  A.  Delaney,  John  W.  Garry, 
Michael  Keeley,  C.  L.  Niehoff,  Frank  A.  Stauber,  P.  O.  Stens- 
land,  A.  C.  Storey.  Superintendent  of  Police,  Austin  J.  Doyle, 
November  13,  vice  W.  J.  McGarigle,  resigned.  William  J. 
McGarigle  made  an  efficient  and  popular  Chief  of  Police.  Dur- 
ing the  earlier  part  of  his  term  he  spent  several  months  in  Eu- 
rope, investigating  the  police  and  detective  systems  there.  He 
resigned  to  become  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  county 
convention  for  Sheriff. 

July  31,  1882,  Aid.  Blair  presented  to  the  Council  a  pream- 
ble and  resolutions  granting  permission  to  his  Honor  the  Mayor 
to  take  a  vacation,  and  moved  its  adoption.  The  motion  pre- 
vailed by  yeas  32,  nays  1 — Aid.  Nelson.  The  following  is  the 
resolution  as  adopted : 

Whereas,  Our  worthy  Mayor  has  devoted  his  time  and 
attention  to  the  duties  of  his  office  with  the  utmost  zeal  and 
fidelity,  giving  to  the  affairs  of  the  city  a  greater  degree  of  care 
and  consideration  than  a  business  man  would  do  to  his  own  pri- 
vate business,  has  been  daily  at  his  desk  dispatching  matters  re- 
quiring executive  action  and  giving  audience  to  all  who  have  had 
important  business  to  lay  before  him,  and  have  invariably 
attended  the  sessions  of  this  Council,  greatly  aiding  us  in  our 
deliberations  and  expediting  business,  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  as  a  recognition  of  this  faithful  service  of 
the  Mayor,  and  in  view  of  the  further  fact  that  in  the  three  years 
and  a  quarter  of  his  connection  with  the  affairs  of  the  city,  he 
has  only  taken  two  weeks'  vacation,  this  Council  does  hereby 
grant  him  a  leave  of  absence  until  the  4th  of  September  next, 
that  he  may  if  he  so  chooses  visit  Europe  for  relaxation  and  rec- 
reation, and  that  in  the  event  of  his  finding  matters  which  may 
require  a  longer  time  for  study  for  the  interests  of  Chicago,  an 
extension  of  one  or  two  weeks  is  also  hereby  allowed,  at  his 
discretion. 


280  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Mayor  Harrison  during  his  absence  was  honored  by  being 
given  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  was  entertained  by 
the  Corporation.  Upon  his  return,  September  20,  he  was  the 
recipient  of  an  immense  popular  ovation  on  the  part  of  the  city 
employes  and  citizens,  there  beting  a  monster  procession  and  fire- 
works, and  public  speaking  on  the  lake  front. 

October  2  the  Council  adopted  resolutions  tendering  A.  M. 
Sullivan,  M.  P.,  the  Irish  patriot,  the  hospitalities  of  the  city; 
sympathizing  with  Ireland  in  her  struggle  for  self-government, 
and  resolving  to  adjourn  and  attend  in  a  body  the  lecture  of  A. 
M.  Sullivan,  which  he  was  in  the  course  of  delivering  at  Central 
Music  hall. 

October  23  the  following  resolutions  were  passed  relative  to 
the  death  of  Peter  Cunningham,  an  old  citizen,  prominent  in 
politics,  and  for  many  years  a  trusted  city  employe  : 

Whereas,  The  hand  of  death  has  removed  from  our  midst 
Peter  Cunningham,  of  the  Mayor's  office  ;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  in  the  sudden  and  unexpected  demise  of 
Mr.  Cunningham  the  city  has  lost  a  valued  and  trusty  servant, 
his  family  a  most  kind  and  affectionate  father,  and  society  an 
active  member  ;  a  man  who  in  his  public  as  well  as  social  rela- 
tions bore  a  high  and  enviable  reputation,  and  who  discharged 
the  duties  of  life  with  ability  and  most  faithfully,  honestly  and 
conscientiously,  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  this  Council,  together  with  the  various  de- 
partments of  the  city,  do  hereby  tender  to  his  afflicted  family 
and  relatives  their  heartfelt  sympathy  and  condolence  in  this  their 
hour  of  grief,  and  that  the  City  Clerk  be  directed  to  send  a  copy 
of  these  resolutions  to  his  family,  duly  engrossed,  and  that  the 
same  be  spread  upon  the  records  of  the  Council. 

December  27  resolutions  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  ex- 
Ald.  Thomas  Cannon,  deceased,  were  adopted,  and  ordered 
spread  upon  the  records  March  12,  1883,  Mayor  Harrison,  by 
resolution  of  the  Council,  appointed  Aids.  Wickersham,  Dean, 
Colvin  and.Altpeter  as  a  committee  on  reception  to  receive  and 
entertain  President  Diaz  of  Mexico,  and  party,  on  the  occasion 
of  their  visit  to  the  city. 

March  21,  1883,  Mayor  Harrison  sent  his  annual  message 
to  the  Council,  in  which,  before  reviewing  the  operations  of  the 
city  departments,  he  had  the  following  to  say  : 

I  regret  the  necessity  of  saying  anything  which  may  savor 
of  politics,  but  the  good  name  of  Chicago  has  been  shamelessly 
attacked  for  partisan  purposes  by  a  part  of  its  press,  which  has 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  28 1 

grown  fat  with  its  prosperity.  So  persistently  has  this  been 
done  that  people  in  other  localities  and  some  of  our  own  people, 
who  are  prone  to  believe  whatever  they  see  in  print,  have  been 
made  to  believe  that  this  city  is  a  sink  of  festering  crime  ;  its 
officials  in  league  with  thieves  and  cut-throats,  and  thriving  by 
wasting  the  funds  of  the  public.  As  the  Mayor  of  Chicago, 
proud  of  its  good  name,  I  cannot  silently  permit  that  good 
name  to  be  tarnished  by  the  slanders  of  men,  who,  had  they  lived 
eighteen  hundred  and  odd  years  ago,  would  have  sold  their  mas- 
ter for  thirty  pieces  of  silver. 

Newspapers  within  the  past  few  days  have  had  the  hardi- 
hood to  assert  that  the  economy  practiced  during  the  incumbency 
of  this  administration  has  been  the  forced  fruit  of  the  two  per 
cent,  limitation  for  the  tax  levy.  The  saving  of  over  $600,000 
from  the  appropriation  of  1879,  during  seven  months  of  that 
year,  was  not  forced  by  such  limitation.  The  appropriation  was 
made  under  my  predecessor.  His  expenditures  during  the  first 
four  months  of  the  year  were  based  on  a  saving  of  less  than  ten' 
per  cent.  This  administration  took  the  fifth  month  to  study  the 
question  and  to  mature  its  plans,  and  then  proceeded  to  save 
25  per  cent,  of  the  appropriation,  and  as  a  result  one  and  a 
quarter  million  dollars  in  scrip  were  issued  that  year,  against  two 
and  a  quarter  millions  under  my  predecessor  the  year  before. 
And  what  is  more,  the  greater  portion  of  that  one  and  a  quarter 
millions  of  dollars  was  paid  for  expenditures  from  January  to 
May,  during  the  term  of  my  predecessor.  In  1880  not  greatly 
over  a  half  million  dollars  of  scrip  were  issued,  and  thenceforth 
the  city  was  redeemed  from  its  curse.  I  wish  to  call  your  atten- 
tion also,  while  on  the  subject  of  finances,  to  another  reform  in 
this  line.  Prior  to  June,  1879,  officials  and  employes  of  the  city 
were  rarely  paid  before  the  8th  of  the  month,  and  generally 
later,  and  often  between  the  10th  and  15th,  and  other  creditors 
were  put  off  from  day  to  day,  without  any  good  reason  therefor. 
I  could  not  understand  why  Chicago  should  not  be  as  prompt  in 
paying  as  any  business  institution.  Orders  were  given  that  it 
should  be  made  so.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  for  three  and  a  half 
years  all  monthly  payments  have  been  promptly  met  on  the  first 
day  of  the  month,  with  some  few  exceptions,  where  they  have 
been  deferred  a  day  or  two.  This  has  proved  not  simply  a 
benefit  to  those  directly  paid  by  the  city,  but,  by  causing  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  to  be  monthly  put  in  circulation  at 
fixed  and  well  understood  periods,  has  helped  to  give  life  to  all 
business  interests  in  the  city.     That  the  administration  has  been 


282  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

still  looking  to  the  interests  of  the  people  may  be  judged  by  the 
following  financial  exhibit  from  our  efficient  and  capable 
Comptroller,  Mr.  Gurney  : 

Amount  of  money  in  the  treasury  January  i,  1883,  $910,- 
887.09;  amount  of  city  taxes  for  1882  uncollected  January  1, 
1883,  $3,952,402.98;  total  receipts  from  all  sources  during  the 
year,  $8,605,507.37  ;  total  disbursements  for  the  same  period, 
$8,450,099.54;  the  entire  bonded  debt  of  the  city  January  1, 
1879,  $13,043,000.00;  the  amount  retired  during  the  past  four 
years,  $291,000.00;  total  bonded  debt  December  30,  1882 
(which  includes  the  entire  debt  of  the  city),  $12,752,000.00.  Of 
the  above  amounts  the  following  was  refunded  :  6  per  cent,  sew- 
erage bonds,  due  July  1,  1880,  refunded  at  \]/2  percent.,  $80,- 
000,00;  7  per  cent,  sewerage  bonds,  due  July  1,  1880,  refunded 
at  43^  per  cent.,  $410,000.00;  7  per  cent,  municipal  bonds,  due 
April  1,  1 88 1,  refunded  at  4  per  cent.,  $843,500.00  ;  6  per  cent, 
water  bonds,  due  July  1,  1882,  refunded  at  3.65  per  cent.,  $198,- 
000.00;  7  per  cent,  water  bonds,  due  July  1,  1882,  refunded  at 
3.65  per  cent.,  $135,000.00;  means  on  hand  for  paying  the 
bonded  debt,  being  the  resources  of  the  various  sinking  funds 
restored  during  the  past  four  years,  and  are  classified  as  follows : 
General  sinking  fund,  $130,637.32  ;  river  improvement  sinking 
fund;  $41,771.02  ;  school  sinking  fund,  $49,806.83  ;  sewerage 
sinking  fund,  $45,950.16;  the  net  savings  in  the  interest  on  the 
bonded  debt  since  1879,  is  per  annum,  $53,221.01. 

A  table  was  given  showing  the  receipts  of  the  city  for  the 
year  ending  December  30,  1882,  to  have  been  $8,605,507.37,  and 
the  expenditures  for  the  same  time  $8,450,099.54,  or  a  surplus 
of  receipts  over  expenditures  of  $155,407.83.  Health  Depart- 
ment.— During  the  year  1882  the  city  has  been  remarkably  free 
from  epidemic  diseases,  with  the  exception  of  small  pox,  and 
with  two  exceptions  no  city  of  our  population  in  the  civilized 
world  presents  so  low  a  death  rate.  There  were  13,234  deaths 
reported.  If  we  estimate  our  present  population  at  560,693,  we 
have  had  a  death  rate  of  23.60  per  thousand  per  year.  The 
death  rate  amongst  children  less  than  five  years  of  age  is  high, 
and  is  due  to  the  overcrowding,  indifferent  care  and  unsanitary 
conditions  inseparable  from  our  rapid  growth  from  the  immigrant 
class.  Our  position  as  the  converging  point  for  the  great  lines 
of  immigrant  travel  from  the  East  and  South,  and  the  fact  that 
Chicago  is  the  immigrant  distributing  center  for  the  Northwest, 
have  surrounded  us  with  peculiar  dangers  from  the  incursions  of 
small  pox.     Sixty  per  cent,  of  all  immigrants  entering  the  ports 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  283 

of  this  country  during  the  year  1882  passed  through  Chicago, 
and  until  the  National  Board  of  Health  in  June  last  undertook 
the  supervision  of  this  incoming  class  by  placing  medical  inspec- 
tors upon  all  trains  leaving  ports  of  entry  westward,  there  was 
little  interruption  to  the  direct  transmission  not  only  of  those 
suffering  with  the  disease,  but  of  numberless  individuals  unpro- 
tected by  vaccination,  who  were  invariably  attacked  when  ex- 
posed. It  should  be  remembered  to  the  credit  of  Chicago  that 
no  case  was  ever  passed  along,  but  was  immediately  removed 
and  cared  for.  Three  thousand  six  hundred  and  eleven  cases 
have  been  reported  during  the  year,  of  which  number  one  thou- 
sand and  fifty-five  were  treated  in  hospital.  The  labor  imposed 
upon  the  Department  of  Health  in  this  work  alone  has  been 
great,  and  of  a  peculiarly  trying  nature,  but  has  been  so  efficiently 
and  quietly  performed  that  our  large  commercial  interests  have 
not  been  imperiled,  our  schools  have  not  been  interrupted,  nor 
the  peace  and  quiet  of  our  citizens  disturbed.  There  have  been 
110,915  vaccinations  made  by  the  department  during  the  year, 
and  this  work  has  oftentimes  been  surrounded  by  peculiar  diffi- 
culties. There  have  been  13,564  nuisances  examined,  reports 
made  upon  them,  and  abated.  There  have  also  been  994  sewer 
connections  ordered  and  made;  6,421  privy  vaults  cleaned, 
13,733  dead  animals  removed  from  the  streets,  and  403,440 
pounds  of  various  meats  unfit  for  food  found  in  our  markets  have 
been  condemned  and  sent  to  the  rendering  tanks.  The  tenement 
house  and  workshop  inspection,  and  the  supervision  of  houses  in 
process  of  erection,  have  been  energetically  and  successfully  pur- 
sued by  the  department. 

The  Police  and  Fire  Departments,  the  Department  of  Public 
Works,  the  Law  Department  and  the  Gas  Department  were 
reviewed,  and  showed  to  be  more  economically  conducted  and  in 
more  serviceable  working  order  than  ever  before. 

The  Public  Library  was  shown  to  have  92,312  volumes  and 
22,000  book-borrowers;  an  annual  circulation  of  400,000 — the 
largest  in  the  country  with  one  exception — and  the  number  of 
visitors  to  the  reading  room  and  reference  tables  was  610,000. 
The  need  of  a  fire-proof  building  for  this  splendid  library  was 
dwelt  upon,  and  the  efforts  to  secure  Dearborn  Park  from  the 
government  for  a  site  for  a  library  building  were  referred  to. 
The  Schools. — There  has  been  a  considerable  increase  in  school 
attendance  as  well  as  school  accommodations  during  the  school 
year.  The  total  number  enrolled  was  68,614,  an  increase  over 
the  previous  year  of  5,473,   and   at  the  beginning  of   the   year 


284  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

there  were  in  process  of  erection  five  new  schoolhouses,  which 
have  been  completed  at  a  total  cost  of  $232,639,  and  will  seat 
4,347  pupils.  On  the  1st  of  January  last,  four  other  buildings 
were  erected,  and  these  will  seat  2,772  pupils.  Plans  for  two  new 
high  school  buildings  are  in  course  of  preparation.  The  school 
census  taken  in  June  last  shows  that  there  were  32,038  pupils  in 
private  schools,  and  that  the  total  number  of  persons  between 
the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen  years,  was  110,389.  During  the 
year  there  were  9,244  pupils  in  double  divisions,  who  could  only 
attend  school  one-half  of  the  day,  and  to  accommodate  these  and 
the  natural  increase  in  attendance,  the  Board  of  Education  is 
laboring  to  erect  as  many  new  buildings  as  the  funds  at  their  dis- 
posal will  permit.  The  total  receipts  of  the  department  were 
$1,457,120.55,  and  the  expenditures  $1,146,924.34,  thus  leaving  a 
surplus  of  $310,196.21  net,  of  which  the  board  has  been  enabled 
to  pay  salaries  in  cash  up  to  January  1  last,  instead  of  resorting 
to  scrip  after  the  expiration  of  the  school  year  in  July,  as 
formerly. 

A  table  was  given  showing  that  the  number  of  saloon 
licenses  issued  was  less  in  proportion  to  population  than  under 
the  two  preceding  administrations.     The  message  continued  : 

I  know  but  one  way  to  prevent  or  diminish  improper  char- 
acters from  obtaining  licenses,  and  that  is  the  passage  of  a  law 
that  no  license  be  issued  unless  before  its  issuance  application 
therefor  be  made  some  two  weeks  or  a  month  beforehand,  and 
that  the  name  of  the  applicant  be  posted  up  on  some  official 
board  for  scrutiny.  Then  persons  who  are  not  interested  in  the 
morals  of  the  city  can  notify  the  Mayor  in  writing.  In  that 
way,  if  injury  be  done  an  applicant,  he  can  have  recourse  to  a 
proper  tribunal  for  redress.  But  no  Mayor  can  accept  the  state- 
ments of  irresponsible  men,  or  can  refuse  to  a  man  a  license 
simply  because  some  newspaper,  which  fattens  on  blackening 
private  character  for  sensational  purposes,  attacks  such  a  man. 
A  Mayor,  who  is  himself  wantonly  maligned,  cannot  put  much 
faith  in  the  statements  of  the  maligner  as  to  the  character  of 
others.  But  aside  from  these  considerations,  there  has  not 
been  a  Mayor  that  I  can  learn  of  who  has  himself  personally 
examined  into  the  character  of  applicants  before  licenses  were 
issued.  The  duties  of  the  office  have  been  such  as  to  preclude 
such  a  possibility.  This  talk  of  a  personal  scrutiny  therefore, 
resolves  itself  simply  into  attacks  for  partisan  ends. 

A  table  showing  the  tax  levies  for  a  series  of  years  was 
given,  and   the  following  deductions  drawn  :      Taking  the  tax 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  285 

levies  of  the  four  years  ending  1882,  we  find  that  the  total  is 
$12,087,084,  while  for  the  four  years  ending  1878,  the  total  is 
$14,717,380,  thus  showing  that  we  had  $2,630,296  less  money 
to  run  the  city  with,  and  yet  in  spite  of  the  demands  in  other 
directions,  which  were  fully  met,  more  has  been  accomplished  in 
the  latter  than  in  the  former  period  of  time. 

The  message  closed  as  follows  : 

For  many  years  the  great  papers  of  the  North,  the  great  pe- 
riodicals and  the  public  teachers  have  belonged  to  the  Republi- 
can party.  From  prejudice  or  from  interested  motives  these 
have  all  labored  day  and  night  to  convince  the  people  that  the 
Democratic  party  would  not  or  could  not  conduct  any  public  cor- 
poration—  state  or  municipal — on  principles  of  honesty,  integrity 
and  economy.  This  has  been  injurious  to  the  people  at  large, 
and  has  made  them  rather  bear  the  ills  they  had  than  fly  to  oth- 
ers they  knew  not  of.  People  should  believe  in  the  principles  of 
their  party,  but  should  also  believe  in  the  honesty  and  patriotism 
of  those  opposed  to  them.  Four  years  ago  thousands  of  Repub- 
licans in  Chicago  were  so  prejudiced  against  the  Democratic 
party  that  they  did  not  give  it  credit  for  either  honesty  or  abili- 
ty. To-day  these  thousands,  having  seen  a  Democratic  adminis- 
tration conducting  the  affairs  of  this  city  on  business  principles  ; 
having  seen  no  robbery  of  the  treasury  ;  having  heard  no  whis- 
per against  the  honesty  of  a  single  official  or  employe,  while  so 
much  speculation  has  gone  on  in  certain  corporations  controlled 
by  Republicans — these  thousands  have  learned  that  a  Demo- 
cratic administration  could  be  honest,  faithful  and  capable ;  and, 
though  they  have  differed  with  such  administration  in  many  of 
its  methods,  have  come  to  believe  that  they  will  not  and  would 
not  be  ruined,  even  if  their  own  party  should  not  be  at  the  helm. 
This  one  thing  alone  is  worth  to  Chicago  a  great  deal.  As  long 
as  people  can  believe  others  as  honest  as  themselves,  as  capable 
as  themselves,  they  will  not  be  satisfied  to  vote  for  unfit  men. 
simply  because  their  party  says  so,  but  will  be  more  particular  in 
getting  good  men  to  the  front.  Thus  each  party  vying  with  the 
other  in  having  as  their  leaders  good  men,  the  city  will  thrive 
and  prosper,  whatever  party  may  control  its  affairs. 

The  ordinance  covering  the  appropriation  bill  and  directing 
the  tax  levy  for  the  fiscal  year  1883,  as  prepared  by  the  Comp- 
troller, was  passed  by  the  Council  April  20,  1883,  and  contained 
items  aggregating  $4,540,506.13. 

In  the  Thirty-second  General  Assembly,  which  convened 
January  5,    1881,    William  J.    Campbell,   of    Cook  county,   was 


286  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

elected  President  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate  over  W.  P.  Callon 
of  Morgan  county,  by  a  vote  of  33  to  28,  and  in  the  House, 
Horace  H.  Thomas  of  Cook,  was  elected  Speaker  over  Bradford 
K.  Durfee  of  Macon,  by  a  vote  of  81  to  71.  The  Legislature 
met  in  special  session  March  23,  1882,  and  reapportioned  the 
State  into  Congressional  and  Senatorial  districts.  In  the  state 
campaign  of  1882,  in  which  a  State  Treasurer  and  Superinten- 
dent of  Public  Instruction  were  elected,  the  German  Republicans 
of  Cook  county,  as  elsewhere  throughout  the  state,  in  large 
numbers  bolted  the  nomination  of  Charles  T.  Strattan,  the  Re- 
publican nominee  for  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and 
gave  their  votes  to  Henry  Raab,  the  Democratic  candidate,  for 
the  reason  that  Strattan,  while  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  had 
voted  in  favor  of  submitting  to  the  people  a  constitutional  pro- 
hibitory amendment,  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
spirituous  or  malt  liquors.  The  Greenbackers  and  the  Prohibi- 
tionists had  tickets  in  the  field,  and  although  the  latter  ware 
urged  to  vote  for  Strattan,  they,  because  the  Republican  state 
convention  had  voted  down  a  resolution  favoring  the  submission 
of  the  constitutional  amendment,  voted  straight  out  for  their 
candidate,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  B.  Brown.  The  result  was  the  elec- 
tion of  John  C.  Smith,  Republican  candidate  for  State  Treasurer 
by  the  small  plurality  of  6,137,  and  of  Henry  Raab,  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  by  the 
still  smaller  plurality  of  2,869,  and  it  was  maintained  that  the 
vote  of  the  Germans  in  Cook  county  alone  brought  about 
Raab's  election.  In  the  Second  Congressional  district  there  was 
a  hotly  contested  contest  between  John  F.  Finerty,  editor  of 
The  Citizen,  an  Irish  Nationalist  weekly,  who  for  years  had 
been  a  well-known  journalist  connected  with  the  Chicago  Times, 
and  Henry  F.  Sheridan,  also  a  prominent  Irish-American,  iden- 
tified with  many  powerful  Irish  societies.  The  result  of  the 
Congressional  elections  by  districts  in  Chicago  was  as  follows  : 

First  district,  Ransom  W.  Dunham,  Rep.,  11,571  ;  John  W. 
Doane,  Dem.,  10,534;  A.  J.  Grover,  Anti-Monopoly,  644.  Sec- 
ond district,  John  F.  Finerty,  Ind.  Dem.,  9,360;  Henry  F. 
Sheridan,  Dem.,  6,939;  J.  Altpeter,  Ind.,  189;  Sylvester  Artley, 
Socialist,  180.  Third  district,  George  R.  Davis,  Rep.,  12,511  ; 
William  P.  Black,  Dem.,  10,274;  Caleb  G.  Hayman,  Anti- 
Monopoly,  748.  Fourth  district,  George  E.  Adams,  Rep.,  11,- 
686  ;  Lambert  Tree,  Dem.,  9,446  ;  Frank  P.  Crandon,  Prohibi- 
tionist, 663  ;  Christian  Meyer,  Anti-Monopoly,  128. 

In  the  Thirty-third  General  Assembly,  which  convened  Janu- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  287 

ary  3,  1883,  W.  J.  Campbell  of  Cook,  was  elected  President  pro 
tempore  of  the  Senate,  over  Thomas  M.  Shaw  of  Marshall,  by  a 
vote  of  23  to  15,  and  in  the  House  Lorin  C.  Collins,  Jr.,  of  Cook, 
was  elected  Speaker  over  Austin  O.  Sexton  of  Cook,  by  a  vote 
of  78  to  75.  January  16  the  two  Houses  voted  separately  on  the 
question  of  electing  a  successor  to  David  Davis  in  the  United 
States  Senate.  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  nominee  of  the  Republican 
caucus,  received  105  votes,  and  John  M.  Palmer,  nominee  of  the 
Democratic  caucus,  95  votes.  Three  members  of  the  House  re- 
fused to  vote,  and  there  was  consequently  no  election.  January 
17  the  two  Houses  met  in  joint  session  and  balloted,  Mr.  Cullom 
receiving  107  votes,  and  Mr.  Palmer  95.  Mr.  Cullom  was  de- 
clared duly  elected  Senator.  February  7,  on  account  of  the 
resignation  of  Gov.  Cullom,  Lieut.-Gov.  John  M.  Hamilton  be- 
came Governor,  and  William  J.  Campbell  acting  Lieutenant- 
Governor.  Early  in  this  session  Representative  Harper  of 
Cook,  introduced  a  bill  intended  to  create  a  uniform  license  for 
the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors,  known  as  the  "  Harper  Law."  The 
bill  provoked  almost  the  united  opposition  of  the  retail  liquor 
interests  of  the  state,  and  Chicago  dealers  were  especially  active 
in  their  opposition  to  the  proposed  measure.  The  bill  was  under 
discussion  nearly  five  months.  It  passed  the  Hous^  June  8  by 
a  vote  of  79  yeas  to  65  nays,  and  the  Senate  June  15  by  a  vote 
of  30  yeas  to  20  nays.  The  "  Harper  Law,"  governing  the  sale 
of  spirituous  liquors,  was  the  last  to  date  of  a  long  line  of 
measures  affecting  the  liquor  traffic  which  have  at  times  been 
presented  to  our  legislators  for  action. 

A  committee  of  ladies  bearing  a  petition  signed  by  80,000 
voters  and  100,000  women,  asking  the  passage  of  a  law  allowino- 
women  to  vote  on  questions  relative  to  the  liquor  traffic,  waited 
on  the  House  of  Representatives  March  6,  1879.  Among  the 
Chicago  ladies  on  the  committee  were  Miss  Frances  E  Willard, 
President  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  of 
Illinois  ;  Mrs.  T.  B.  Carse,  President  of  the  Chicago  W.  C.  T. 
U.;  Mrs;  J.  B.  Hobbs,  Miss  Lucia  Kimball,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Cum- 
mings,  Mrs.  R.  Greenlee,  Mrs  L.  A.  Hagans,  Mrs.  Willis  A. 
Barnes,  Mrs.  C.  H.  Case  and  Mrs.  D.  J.  True. 

On  motion  of  Representative  Sol.  P.  Hopkins  of  Cook, 
Miss  Willard  was  invited  to  address  the  House.  April  10  the 
same  committee  presented  the  petition  to  the  Senate  and  by  a 
vote  of  24  for  to  19  against,  a  recess  of  thirty  minutes  was  taken, 
during  which  time  Miss  Willard  addressed  the  body.  The 
Senate  took  no  action,  but  the    House  considered    a  bill  which 


288  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

provided  for  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  allowing  women 
over  21  years  to  be  registered  as  voters,  and  that  before  a 
saloon  could  be  opened  the  keeper  should  be  able  to  show  to  the 
municipal  authorities  that  he  had  secured  the  consent  of  a  major- 
ity of  both  men  and  women  over  2 1  years  of  age  in  the  com- 
munity. The  bill  was  ably  championed,  and  as  ably  opposed.  It 
reached  a  third  reading  May  30,  when  it  was  lost  by  a  vote  of 
55  nays  to  53  yeas.  It  was  claimed  that  the  agitation  set  on  foot 
throughout  the  state  by  the  temperance  women  had  much  to  do 
in  securing  the  passage  of  the  Harper  law  in  1883.  In  the 
House  70  Republicans  and  9  Democrats  voted  for  the  bill, 
and  51  Democrats  and  4  Republicans  against  it.  In  the  Sen- 
ate 29  Republicans  and  1  Democrat  voted  for  it,  and  19  Demo- 
crats and  1  Republican  against  it.  Thus,  the  Republicans 
assert,  and  are  clearly  entitled  to  the  claim,  that  the  law  was  a 
Republican  measure,  and  passed  by  substantially  a  party  vote. 
In  the  spring  municipal  campaign  of  1883,  the  Republicans 
were  somewhat  disheartened  over  successive  reverses  for  their 
city  tickets.  The  newspapers  charged  that  Mayor  Harrison's 
campaigns  were  conducted  by  the  gamblers  under  the  leadership 
of  M.  C.  McDonald  and  Joseph  C.  Mackin,  who  controlled  the 
party  machinery,  and  certain  Aldermen  who  had  the  worst  ele- 
ments of  the  population  subject  to  their  commands.  A  commit- 
tee of  citizens  representing  both  parties,  was  organized  to  con- 
sider this  subject,  and  take  action  in  reference  to  placing  a  "Re- 
form" city  ticket  in  the  field.  They  met  in  Fairbank  hall, 
Central  Music  hall  building,  and  became  known  as  the  ''Fair- 
bank  Hall  Silk  Stockings."  The  Republicans  duly  held  a  con- 
vention and  a  compromise  was  effected  with  the  Fairbank  hall 
people,  whereby  Eugene  Cary  was  nominated  for  Mayor,  Den- 
nis O'Connor  for  Treasurer,  B.  F.  Richolson  for  City  Attorney, 
and  Emil  Dietzsch  for  City  Clerk.  The  Democratic  convention, 
held  at  the  Palmer  house,  re-nominated  Carter  H.  Harrison  for 
Mayor  by  acclamation,  and  John  M.  Dunphy  for  City  Treasurer, 
Julius  S.  Grinnell,  re-nominated  for  City  Attorney,  and  John  G. 
Neumeister,  nominated  for  City  Clerk.  The  election  occurred 
Tuesday,  April  30,  and  was  an  exciting  one.  The  result  was  as 
follows  ; 

MAYOR. 

Carter  H.  Harrison,   Dem.,  .         .         .         41,226 

Eugene  Cary,  Rep.,  ....         3°>9^3 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  209 

CITY     TREASURER. 

John  M.  Dunphy,  Dem.,  .         .         .  37,604 

Dennis  O'Connor,  Rep.,       ....         34,322 

CITY    ATTORNEY. 

Julius  S.  Grinnell,  Dem.,      -  42>355 

Benjamin  F,  Richolson,  Rep.,       ...         29,543, 

CITY      CLERK. 

John  G.  Neumeister,  Dem.,  -         -         -         38,994 

Emil  Dietzsch,  Rep.,  -----  32,952 
In  the  wards  the  vote  for  Aldermen  was  as  follows  : 
First  ward,  Arthur  Dixon,  Rep.,  1,703;  A.  Calder,  Dem., 
10.  Second  ward,  James  T.  Appleton,  Dem.,  2,094  ;  Charles  H. 
Lithgow,  Rep.,  1,338;  J.  H.  Howard,  Rep.,  38.  Third  ward, 
Frank  H.  Follansbee,  Rep.,  1,457;  O-  B.  Phelps,  Rep.,  1,378. 
Fourth  ward,  O.  D.  Wetherell,  Rep.,  3,244  ;  Frank  Meyers,  Dem., 
1,529.  Fifth  ward,  H.  F.  Sheridan,  Dem.,  4,493  ;  Nick  Murphy, 
Ind.  Rep.,  1,651.  Sixth  ward,  C.  F.  L.  Doerner,  Dem.,  2,953  I 
Frank  Hubka,  Bohemian  Independent,  1,071.  Seventh  ward, 
John  Riordan,  Dem.,  2,042;  Charles  P.  Brady,  Rep.,  1,244; 
John  L.  Mulfinger,  Ind.,  803.  Eighth  ward,  Thomas  Purcell, 
Dem.,  2,896;  Jeremiah  Flynn,  Dem.,  1,417;  Josiah  Grey,  Rep., 
563  ;  Maurice  O'Conner,  Ind.,  229.  Ninth  ward,  John  H.  Foley, 
Dem.,  2,059;  Ira  H.  Tubbs,  Rep.,  555  ;  J.  S.  Carlisle,  Ind.,  14. 
Tenth  ward,  James  Walsh,  Dem.,  1,100;  Daniel  Nelson,  Rep., 
823  ;  Charles  King,  Ind.,  446.  Eleventh  ward,  Samuel  Simons, 
2,650;  Scattering,  6.  Twelfth  ward,  Walter  S.  Hull,  Rep., 
4,148;  Daniel  O'Day,  Dem.,  986.  Thirteenth  ward,  John  W. 
Lyke,  Rep.,  1,459;  Samuel  J.  Daggett,  Dem.,  853;  Pat- 
rick Rice,  Dem.,  595  ;  W.  H.  Dobson,  Ind.,  610.  Four- 
teenth ward,  Frank  Schack,  Dem.,  2,148;  Charles  F.  Struble, 
Rep.,  1,9.10;  Andrew  Kurr,  Socialist,  1,080.  Fifteenth  ward, 
William  Eisfeldt,  Rep.,  2,411  ;  Nich  Gerten,  Dem.,  1,803  >'  Jonn 
Wagner,  Ind.,  23.  Sixteenth  ward,  Henry  Severin,  Rep.,  1,495  ; 
M.  J.  DeWald,  Dem.,  1,469.  Seventeenth  ward,  Andrew  J. 
Sullivan,  Dem.,  1,719  ;  John  Murphy,  Rep.,  1,624.  Eighteenth 
ward,  William  R.  Manierre,  Dem.,  2,535  J  Julius  Jonas,  Ind. 
Dem.,  1,780;  Watson  Ruddy,  Rep.,  278. 

The  appointments  of  officials  made  by  Mayor  Harrison  in 
1883-4  were  T.  T.  Gurney,  Comptroller,  reappointed;  Oscar  C. 
DeWolf,  Health  Commissioner,  reappointed  ;  DeWitt  C.  Cre- 
gier,  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  reappointed  ;  Austin  J. 
Doyle,  Superintendent  of  Police,  reappointed ;  D.  J.  Swenie, 
19 


29O  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

Chief  of  Fire  Department,  reappointed  ;  Eugene  Prager,  Oil 
Inspector;  School  Inspectors,  M.  J.  Dunne,  to  succeed  himself; 
Frank  Wenter,  to  succeed  F.  A.  Maas  ;  Graeme  Stewart,  to  suc- 
ceed Philip  A.  Hoyne  ;  John  M.  Clark,  to  succeed  E.  G.  Keith; 
J.  R.  Doolittle,  Jr.,  to  succeed  J.  C.  Burroughs;  Directors  of 
the  Public  Library,  L.  W.  Kadlec,  to  succeed  himself;  Bernard 
Callaghan,  to  succeed  himself  ;  H.  W.  Rogers,  to  succeed  J.  D. 
Walker;  Sealer  of  Weights  and  Measures,  Philip  Reidy  ;  In- 
spector of  Steam  Boilers,  Patrick  Tierney  ;  City  Collector,  W. 
J.  Onahan  ;  Commissioner  of  Buildings,  Alexander  Kirkland  ; 
Police  Magistrate,  East  Chicago  Avenue  Station,  George  Kers- 
ten ;  Police  Magistrate,  Desplaines  Street  Station,  Charles 
White  ;  Police  Magistrate,  West  Twelfth  Street  Station,  O.  P. 
Ingersoll;  Police  Magistrate,  Harrison  Street  Station,  Peter 
Foote  ;  Police  Court  Clerks,  R.  Sheridan,  West  Twelfth  street ; 
W.  C.  Clingen,  Harrison  street;  M.  A.  La  Berg,  Desplaines 
street ;  August  Timm,  East  Chicago  avenue  ;  John  Kelly,  bailiff, 
Desplaines  street ;  Charles  Hefter,  bailiff,  West  Twelfth  street ; 
Henry  Schraeder,  Superintendent  West  Randolph  Street  Mar- 
ket ;  Peter  Conlon,  Member  of  the  Board  of  Education  ;  Chris. 
Meyer,  Clerk  of  East  Chicago  Avenue  Police  Court,  vice  Aug. 
Timm  ;  M.  R.  M.  Wallace,  Prosecuting  Attorney  ;  Frederick  S. 
Winston,  Corporation  Counsel. 

The  official  bonds  of  the  Mayor  and  incoming  officials  were 
approved  by  the  new  Council  May  14,  1883.  Mayor  Harrison's 
bond  for  $10,000  was  signed  by  Rudolf  Brand  and  George"  Sher- 
wood as  sureties  ;  City  Treasurer  Dunphy's  bond  in  the  sum  of 
$5,000,000  was  signed  by  Columbus  R.  Cummings,  Charles  R. 
Farwell,  Daniel  Kelly,  Nathan  Corwith,  William  B.  Howard, 
Charles  A.  Munn,  W.  C.  D.  Grannis,  and  John  H.  Dwight ; 
City  Clerk  Neumeister's  bond  of  $5,000  was  signed  by  Rudolf 
Brand  and  George  Neumeister;  City  Attorney  Grinnell's  bond 
of  $5,000  was  signed  by  F.  S.  Winston,  Jr.,  and  Francis  Adams. 
May  28,  1883,  the  Council  adopted  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions  relative  to  the  death  of  Ex-Alderman  William 
Wheeler  : 

Whereas,  It  has  pleased  Divine  providence  to  remove  from 
this  life  Ex-Alderman  William  Wheeler,  who  recently  filled  the 
office  of  Alderman  from  the  Thirteenth  ward,  in  the  City  Coun- 
cil, with  credit  to  himself  and  the  people  of  Chicago,  and 

Whereas,  By  the  death  of  Ex-Alderman  William  Wheeler, 
the  city  of  Chicago  has  lost  an  upright  and  honorable  citizen 
and  business  man,  and  his  family  a  loving  and  devoted  husband 
and  father  ;  therefore, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  29 1 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Council  tender  to  the  family  of  the 
deceased  its  heartfelt  sympathy  in  this  their  hour  of  deep 
affliction  : 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Clerk  be  requested  to  send  a  copy 
of  these  resolutions  to  the  family  of  the  deceased,  and  that  they 
be  also  spread  upon  the  records  of  this  Council. 

February  27,  1884,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Council  was  held 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  suitable  action  relative  to  the  death  of 
Aid.  J.  E.  Geohegan.  Aid.  Manierre  addressing  the  Council, 
said  : 

It  has  become  my  painful  duty  to  announce  to  this  Council 
the  death  of  my  late  associate  and  colleague,  Alderman  J.  E. 
Geohegan.  This  vacant  chair,  draped  with  the  emblems  of 
mourning,  which  he  so  lately  filled  in  the  full  vigor  of  life,  re- 
minds us  that  he  will  no  more  join  with  us  in  our  official  duties. 
It  is  therefore  meet,  as  he  now  stands  amid  the  silent  shadows 
of  those  gone  before,  mutely  claiming  at  our  hands  kind  tributes 
of  remembrance,  that  we  should  take  appropriate  action.  I 
would  therefore  move,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  a  committee  of  five 
be  appointed  for  such  purpose. 

After  remarks  by  Alderman  Hildreth,  who  paijd  a  glowing 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  saying  that  he  was  a 
kind,  faithful,  generous  and  true  friend,  husband  and  father,  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

Whereas,  This  Council  has  learned  with  regret  and  sorrow 
of  the  death  of  our  late  colleague,  Alderman  J.  E.  Geohegan, 
who  has  represented  in  this  body  for  nearly  two  years  past  the 
Eighteenth  ward,  and  has  discharged  his  duties  to  his  people 
and  to  the  city  with  zeal,  fidelity  and  ability  ;  and 

Whereas,  In  his  unexpected  demise  this  body  has  lost  an 
energetic  member,  the  city  an  enterprising  citizen,  and  his  friends 
a  warm  and  true-hearted  man,  a  man  who  was  in  the  prime  of 
life  and  always  active  in  the  interest  of  the  public,  striving  in  all 
public  measures  to  advance  the  growth,  prosperity  and  material 
beauty  of  the  city,  and  lending  his  efforts  and  influence  in 
matters  calculated  to  enhance  the  reputation  of  the  city  abroad, 
and  make  it  the  great  center  of  the  Northwest ;    therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  this  Council  hereby  tender  the  afflicted 
family  of  our  late  colleague  our  sincere  and  heartfelt  sympathy 
in  their  sad  bereavement  and  their  irreparable  loss  ;  and  be  it 
further 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  proper  mark  of  respect,  this  Council  do 
attend  the  funeral  in  a  body,  and  that   during  the   day  of  the 


292  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

funeral  all  the  departments  of  the  city  be  closed  during  the 
entire  day ;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the  records 
of  this  Council,  and  that  a  copy  be  forwarded  to  the  family  of 
the  deceased  ;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  six  be  appointed  to  act  as  an 
escort  from  Valparaiso,  Ind.,  to  the  residence  of  the  deceased,  on 
the  arrival  of  the  remains  from  Washington,  and  that  such  com- 
mittee be  requested  to  aid,  if  so  desired  by  the  family,  in  making 
arrangements  for  the  funeral. 

The  committee  appointed  to  meet  the  remains  were  Alder- 
men Manierre,  Appleton,  Doerner,  Ryan,  Gaynor  and  Sweeney, 
and  Aldermen  Hildreth,  Dixon  and  Lyke  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  confer  with  the  family  of  the  deceased  in  reference 
to  the  funeral  arrangements.  Alderman  Geohegan  died  of 
pneumonia,  contracted  while  in  Washington  as  a  member  of  a 
delegation  sent  to  secure  the  holding  of  the  Democratic  National 
convention  in  Chicago. 

March  17  the  Council  was  called  upon  to  take  action  in  ref- 
erence to  the  death  of  another  member,  Aid.  John  H.  Foley,  of 
the  Ninth  ward.     The  resolutions  adopted  were  as  follows  : 

Whereas,  It  having  pleased  Almighty  God,  in  His  infinite 
wisdom,  to  remove  from  our  midst  our  much  respected  associate 
in  the  City  Council,  Aid.  John  H.  Foley,  of  the  Ninth  ward,  we, 
the  members  of  the  City  Legislature,  as  a  mark  of  our  regard 
for  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  unanimously  adopt  the  follow- 
ing resolutions  : 

Resolved,  That  we  hereby  tender  to  the  bereaved  family  our 
heartfelt  sympathy  in  their  hour  of  affliction  and  sorrow,  and  that 
as  a  token  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased  this  Coun- 
cil do  attend  the  funeral  in  a  body,  and  that  all  city  offices  be 
closed  for  one  day  immediately  following  the  adoption  hereof. 

And  be  it  further  Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  our  apprecia- 
tion of  the  loss  we  have  sustained  in  the  death  of  our  late  asso- 
ciate, Aid.  John  H.  Foley,  a  committee  consisting  of  six  members 
of  this  body  be  appointed  by  the  Chair,  who  as  a  guard  of  honor 
shall  accompany  the  remains  of  our  deceased  associate  to  the 
city  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  for  interment. 

And  be  it  further  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be 
appointed  to  confer  with  the  family  of  the  deceased  in  making 
arrangements  for  the  funeral. 

And  be  it  further  Resolved,  That  the  City  Clerk  be  and  he 
is  hereby  directed  to  spread  upon  the  records  of  this  Council  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  293 

foregoing  resolutions,  and  that  a  copy  thereof  be  forwarded  to 
the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Suitable  remarks  were  made  by  Aids  Bond,  Lawler,  Ryan 
and  Hildreth.  Aids.  Gaynor,  Lawler,  Appleton,  Ryan,  Sullivan 
and  Doerner  were  appointed  to  accompany  the  remains  to 
Buffalo,  and  Aids.  Lyke,  Wickersham  and  Hildreth  a  committee 
on  arrangements. 

The  appropriation  bill  for  corporate  and  school  purposes  for 
the  fiscal  year  January  i,  1884,  to  December  31,  1884,  was  passed 
April  28,  and  directed  a  tax  levy  of  $4,872,456.60.  At  the  same 
meeting  the  following  resolutions  relative  to  the  death  of  ex-Aid. 
Charles  L.  Woodman  were  adopted  : 

Whereas,  Death  has  removed  from  our  midst  our  fellow 
citizen,  ex-Alderman  Charles  L.  Woodman,  who  was  long  iden- 
tified with  the  city  government ;  a  man  whose  rigid  honesty  and 
strict  integrity  was  never  questioned,  and  whose  conduct,  in 
official  and  private  life,  was  such  as  to  endear  him  to  all  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact  ; 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Council  tender  to  the  bereaved 
family  of  the  deceased  its  heartfelt  sympathy  in  their  sore  dis- 
tress and  affliction. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  placed  upon  the  records 
of  the  Council,  and  a  copy  be  sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Following  is  an  abstract  of  the  vote  polled  at  the  Aldermanic 
election  April  1,  1884: 

First  ward,  Moses  J.  Wentworth,  Dem.,  225  ;  William  P. 
Whelan,  Ind.  Dem.,  1,403.  Second  ward,  Patrick  Sanders, 
Dem.,  1,841  ;  Nic  Reis,  Rep.,  667.  Third  ward,  Daniel  L. 
Shorey,  Rep.,  1,328;  S.  M.  Keogh,  Dem.,  449.  Fourth  ward, 
Thomas  C.  Clarke,  Rep.,  1,755  I  Edwin  O.  Seymour,  Ind.  and 
Dem.,  1,394.  Fifth  ward,  E.  P.  Burke,  Dem.,  2,795  ;  Charles 
Hillock,  Ind.  Dem.,  2,789.  Sixth  ward,  Edward  F.  Cullerton, 
Dem.,  2,739;  Frank  Frucik,  Ind.,  916.  Seventh  ward,  J.  H.  Hil- 
dreth, Dem.,  2,502  ;  James  Monahan,  Ind.  and  Rep.,  1,308. 
Eighth  ward,  Frank  Lawler,  Dem.,  2,734  ;  William  McCoy,  Ind., 
739  ;  William  Kasper,  Rep.,  892.  Ninth  ward,  Michael  Gay- 
nor, Dem.,  1,662  ;  Thos.  W.  Hill,  Rep.,  705.  Tenth  ward,  M. 
McNurney,  Dem.,  951  ;  Daniel  Nelson,  Rep.,  678.  Eleventh 
ward,  Thomas  N.  Bond,  Rep.,  1,641  ;  W.  C.  McClure,  Dem.,  3. 
Twelfth  ward,  James  L.  Campbell,  Rep.,  2,553.  Thirteenth 
ward,  John  E.  Dalton,  Dem.,  1,300;  Samuel  J.  Daggett,  Rep., 
1,067.  Fourteenth  ward,  Michael  Ryan,  Dem.,  1,664;  Daniel 
Ryan,  Rep.,  1,410  ;  Joseph  Gilmeister,  Ind.,  673.   Fifteenth  ward, 


294  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

W.  S.  Young,  Jr.,  Rep.,  1,568;  J.  M.  Ouinn,  Dem.,  1,401.  Six- 
teenth ward,  John  H.  Colvin,  Dem.,  1,511  ;  George  Knerr,  Rep., 
552.  Seventeenth  ward,  John  Sweeney,  Dem.,  1,439;  Jonn  F. 
Lennox,  Rep.,  11.  Eighteenth  ward,  John  T.  Noyes,  Dem., 
1,839;  A.  H.  Burley,  Rep.,  1,339. 

April    14,    1884,    Mayor  Harrison   presented    the   following 
veto  message  to  the  Council  : 
To  the  Honorable  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago  : 

Gentlemen, — I  return  herewith,  without  my  approval,  an  or- 
dinance respecting  kiosques,  passed  by  you  April  — ,  1884.  A 
kiosque  is  not  a  well  known  thing  in  this  Western  world.  To  the 
ordinary  denizen  of  Chicago,  the  word  awakens  no  familiar 
memories.  To  a  few,  whose  wanderings  have  carried  them  to 
the  far-off  land  of  the  Osmanli,  it  brings  back  visions  of  turbaned 
Turks  and  dark-eyed  Circassian  beauties  ;  of  bubbling  fountains 
and  gurgling  nargillahs  ;  of  bowers  of  jasmine  and  rose,  and  of 
the  crescent  and  the  scimeter ;  of  the  sack  and  the  green  rolling 
Bosphorus.  It  carries  some  graybeard  back  to  a  far  distant  day 
when  he  looked  down  upon  Damascus  nestling  in  its  wealth  of 
emerald,  and  he,  like  Mohammed,  almost  dreaded  to  enter  into 
its  charmed  precincts.  Or,  in  memory,  he  reclines  on  deeply 
piled  Turkish  rugs  before  his  tent  door,  pitched  upon  Scutari's 
heights,  while  below  are  the  hundred  gilded  domes  of  Stamboul, 
and  as  the  god  of  day  drops  behind  the  curtain  of  the  far-off  west 
the  weird  cry  of  the  muezzin,  "  La  Allah,  il  Allah  ;  Mohammed 
resoul  Allah,"  steals  on  the  stilly  air  from  a  thousand  minarets 
across  the  Golden  Horn,  telling  the  faithful  that  "  there  is  no 
God  but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  His  prophet."  He  remembers 
how  he  then  dreamed  a  dream — a  dream  that  he  was  a  nine-tailed 
pasha  and  had  a  hundred  wives  ;  how  by  day  he  cut  down  with 
his  own  flashing  Damascene  blade  a  hundred  uncircumcised 
dogs,  and  at  evening  rested  in  the  rose-embowered  kiosque,  and 
inhaling  from  his  amber-mouthed  nargillah  the  sweet  breath  of 
the  Persian  weed,  drank  in  his  own  praise  from  the  rosy  lips  of 
the  "  light  of  his  harem,"  who  sat  at  his  feet  blazing  with  jewels, 
but  she  the  brightest  gem  of  them  all. 

The  favored  few— the  cultured  remnant  of  Chicago — may 
say  to  the  great  sweating  majority  of  the  city,  that  a  kiosque  is 
a  sort  of  dome-shaped  summer  house  in  a  Turkish  garden,  in 
which  the  beauties  of  the  harem  disport  for  the  delectation  of  their 
lord  and  master.  They  will  tell  the  ignorant  many  of  this  giant 
young  city  of  the  West,  that  lately  Matthew  Arnold  flashed  along 
the  stilly  depths  of  the  turbulent  Atlantic  the  information  that 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  295 

the  ethical  culture  of  this  city  was  on  a  very  low  plane,  that  her 
divines  preached  inane  platitudes  to  congregations  who  were  be- 
moaning the  last  fall  of  pork,  or  making  calculations  as  to  the 
next  rise  in  lard,  and  that  thereupon  the  Chicago  Kiosque  Com- 
pany determined  to  educate  our  people  immediately  in  esthetics, 
and  ultimately  in  ethics.  That  it  would  take  down  the  black, 
dismal  lamp  posts  along  Boiler  avenue  and  put  in  their  stead 
beautiful  summer  houses,  on  whose  lateral  surfaces  would  be 
pictured  descriptions  of  how  man  and  beast  are  entertained  in 
the  palatial  edifices  along  that  classic  street. 

That  in  front  of  an  opera  house  on  the  levee  they  would 
have  a  kiosque  resplendent  at  night — all  night — with  dissolving 
views,  epitomizing  the  leg  drama  performed  by  Jerry's  unpainted 
beauties.  How  another  oriental  marvel,  exquisite  in  design, 
worked  out  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works,  would  stand  near  the  two-story  portico  of  a  down-town 
theater,  and  when  Abbey  comes  to  town  again  there  will  be  pic- 
tured upon  "translucent  material"  that  impressario's  ballet 
corps,  sweating  under  a  single  garment  of  cobweb  gossamer. 
How,  on  a  corner  near  a  brown  stone  printing  place,  will  be  a 
hectagonal  kiosque,  with  pictures  splendidly  portraying  the  mas- 
sacre on  yesterday  of  the  garrison  at  Khartoum,  worked  up  by 
an  Arabian  artist  in  a  balloon,  and  sent  by  "special  cable." 

Esthetics  will  be  inculcated  by  day  on  summer  houses  along 
our  streets,  and  ethics  will  be  an  all  night  lesson  on  illuminated 
kiosques  "about  and  around,"  and  for  all  this  wealth  of  pictorial 
education  the  Kiosque  Company  ask  no  other  payment  than  the 
right  to  erect  these  summer  houses  and  these  illuminated  kiosques, 
at  such  points  as  said  company  may  choose,  where  dismal 
lamp  posts  now  stand,  such  kiosques  and  summer  houses  not  to 
be  less  than  ten  feet  high,  they  may  be  ninety — and  not  less  than 
eighteen  inches  square — they  may  be  ten  feet  or  more  in  dimen- 
sions, and  this  right  only  to  last  for  thirty  years  !  You  and  I  and 
our  children  will  have  the  full  advantage  of  this  pictorial  educa- 
tion, but  our  grandchildren  will  be  left  in  utter  darkness.  And 
forty  years  hence  some  future  Matthew  Arnold  will  again  bemoan 
Chicago's  lack  of  ethical  culture  by  "special  cable." 

Seriously,  gentlemen,  were  it  not  that  shrewd  men  interested 
in  this  ordinance  have  urged  me  to  sign  it,  I  would  think  you  in- 
tended it  as  an  April  joke.  It  says  the  said  kiosques  are  to  be 
erected  "  of  a  model  design  and  dimensions,  such  as  shall  be  ap- 
proved by  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  provided,  how- 
ever, that  no  kiosque  shall  be  required  to  be  erected  of  less  than 


296  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ten  feet  in  height,  and  presenting  a  lateral  surface  equal  to  the 
surface  of  a  quadrilateral,  each  of  whose  sides  are  equal  to  a  foot 
and  a  half  in  width.."  That  is,  every  such  kiosque  shall  be  at 
least  \y2  feet  square,  and  ten  feet  high.  Each  of  our  present 
lamp  posts  are  from  three  to  four  inches  in  diameter  on  a  level 
of  a  man's  vision.  The  smallest  of  the  kiosques  will  be  four  to 
five  times  as  large,  thereby  increasing  the  obstruction  of  the 
street  and  vision  along  the  street  by  that  much.  The  smallest 
one  will  be  as  much  an  obstruction  as  the  largest  telegraph  pole, 
should  the  same  stand  on  the  sidewalk.  The  minimum  size  is 
fixed,  but  there  is  no  limit  to  the  size  over  this,  except  in  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works.  Who  can  guaran- 
tee the  discretion  of  all  the  incumbents  of  that  office  for  the  next 
thirty  years  ?  I  have  been  shown  drawings  of  some  of  the 
kiosques  to  be  erected;  they  are  octagonal.  Our  patrol  boxes  are 
octagonal,  and  each  lateral  surface  is  one  foot  wide,  yet  such 
boxes  are  nearly  four  feet  in  diameter.  An  octagonal,  with  1-ateral 
surfaces  of  eighteen  inches,  each  would  be  much  over  four  feet  in 
diameter.  If  this  ordinance  be  legal,  whenever  a  foolish  or  cor- 
rupt Commissioner  shall  give  a  permit  for  a  large  kiosque,  at 
once  a  vested  right  vests  in  the  company,  and  the  thing  will  be 
there  to  stay.  Are  you  going  to  give  such  power  to  a  Commis- 
sioner of  Public  Works  thus  to  permit  obstructions  to  our 
streets  ? 

But  suppose  the  company  erects  no  kiosques  over  eighteen 
inches  square  ?  That  will  be  a  great  obstruction.  But,  says  this 
company,  it  will  save  the  city  the  expense  of  lighting  the  streets. 
That  is  a  snare,  and  I  fear,  a  deliberate  fraud.  The  company  is 
not  compelled  by  the  ordinance  to  erect  their  structures  ;  it  is 
simply  permitted  to  do  so  when,  during  thirty  years,  it  may  wish, 
and  where,  throughout  this  city,  it  may  desire.  It  will  pick  out 
such  corners  on  our  crowded  thoroughfares  as  may  be  profitable 
to  it,  and  then  farm  out  other  points  when  it  finds  a  profitable 
opportunity.  If  the  thing  be  a  good  thing  are  you  willing  to 
give  a  monopoly  of  the  many  thousand  lamp  posts  to  this  com- 
pany for  thirty  years  ?  If  the  thing  can  be  made  to  pay,  then 
the  city  should  reserve  to  itself  the  right  to  sell  such  lamp  post 
sites  to  such  as  will  pay  the  highest  price  for  them  year  by  year, 
and  not  to  vest  in  any  city  officer  the  vast  discretion  given  to  the 
Commissioner  of  Public  Works  throughout  a  generation  and  a 
half. 

But  I  deny  that  the  Council  has  the  right  and  power  thus 
to  farm  out  parts  of   its   streets,   as   is  done   by  this  ordinance. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  297 

The  streets  and  sidewalks  of  the  city  belong  to  the  people  of  the 
city  and  state,  for  the  purpose  of  locomotion,  and  to  the  property 
owners  along  the  street  as  an  easement.  You  have  the  power 
to  permit  railroads  along  the  streets.  Why?  Because  such  is 
a  legitimate  use  of  a  street  or  highway.  But  a  railroad  has  no 
right  absolutely  to  obstruct  a  street.  Its  rails  stretch  along  or 
across  a  street,  but  such  rails  simply  incommode  other  channels 
of  locomotion ;  they  do  not  absolutely  obstruct  such  other  loco- 
motion. Besides,  railroads  are  a  public  necessity.  Such  use  of 
parts  of  the  streets  is  a  legitimate  use  of  such  street.  Such 
being  the  case,  you  have  the  power  to  give  such  permission. 
Erecting  boxes  for  advertising  purposes  along  a  highway  is  not 
giving  such  highway  to  a  legitimate  purpose,  and  while  I  think 
a  Council  may  probably  permit  such  things  to  be  done  tem- 
porarily, one  Council  cannot  bind  the  city  so  that  another 
Council  cannot  order  the  obstructions  down.  If  you  have  the 
power  to  give  the  right  for  thirty  years,  you  have  the  power  to 
grant  the  right  for  all  time.  The  charter  gives  you  np  such 
power.  The  ninth  power  of  the  Council  grants  power  to  regu- 
late the  use  of  streets.  That  is,  to  regulate  the  use  of  streets 
for  their  legitimate  purposes.  The  legitimate  use  of  a  street  is 
for  locomotion  of  the  people  along  it.  The  carrying  of  people 
or  goods  in  vehicles  is  a  legitimate  use.  The  transmission  of  in- 
formation or  messages,  whether  in  carriages  or  on  wires,  is  a 
legitimate  use.  The  erection  of  signs  or  advertisements,  to  the 
obstruction  of  the  other  legitimate  uses,  is  not  legitimate.  We 
erect  patrol  boxes  on  the  streets  under  police  powers,  and  to 
protect  the  people.  A  railroad — a  legitimate  occupant  of  a 
highway — runs  along  a  street ;  we  erect  a  wall  between  such 
railroad  and  other  parts  of  the  street,  to  protect  the  people  from 
the  damage  caused  by  the  railroad,  thereby  giving  the  people 
absolute  safety  along  a  part  of  the  street,  rather  than  give  them 
the  whole  street  at  the  cost  of  safety  along  its  entirety. 

A  municipal  corporation  holds  the  streets  in  trust  for  the 
entire  public,  and  cannot  surrender  its  rights  over  them  to  any 
individual  or  corporation,  by  a  contract  running  for  a  number  of 
years.  Such  a  contract  requires  the  consent  of  the  supreme 
power,  to-wit,  the  Legislature  of  the  state  of  Illinois. 

Again,  the  ordinance  vests  in  the  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works  the  power  to  permit  these  structures  to  occupy  just  as 
much  of  the  streets  as  he  may  choose.  This  is  a  delegation  of 
the  discretionary  power  vested  in  the  Council  over  the  city 
streets  to  a  mere  executive  officer,  and  as  such  is  clearly  illegal 
and  ultra  vires. 


298  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

I  further  object  to  the  ordinance  in  that  the  interests  of  the 
city  are  not  sufficiently  or  properly  protected,  for  the  reasons  I 
have  given  above.  Respectfully  yours, 

Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor. 

Mayor  Harrison  delivered  his  annual  message  before  the 
new  Council  May  5,  1884.     It  was  as  follows  : 

Gentlemen  of  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Chi- 
cago : 

It  is  required  by  the  Charter,  and  expected  of  the  Mayor, 
that  at  the  close  of  the  municipal  year  he  shall  present  to  the 
City  Council  "information  relative  to  the  affairs  of  the  city,  and 
shall  recommend  for  their  consideration  such  measures  as  he 
shall  deem  expedient."  The  various  departments  of  the  city 
are  likewise  required  to  submit  annual  statements,  and  a  message 
of  the  Mayor  can,  therefore,  do  little  else  than  summarize  their 
reports,  draw  comparisons  between  various  periods  to  better  il- 
lustrate the  progress  that  has  been  effected,  and  present  sugges- 
tions as  to  what  improvements  for  the  future  can  be  promoted  by 
your  honorable  body.  The  reports  of  the  various  departments 
for  the  past  year  are  full  and  complete,  and  it  will  only  be  neces- 
sary on  this  occasion  to  briefly  refer  to  them.  The  finances  of 
the  city  are  of  the  first  consideration,  as  they  are  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  management  of  the  municipality  and  the  pro- 
gress of  the  city  ;  and  whatever  may  be  charged  by  a  partisan 
press  to  the  contrary,  I  feel  warranted  by  the  facts  in  stating 
that  the  public  moneys  have  been  judiciously,  wisely,  and  eco- 
nomically expended.  The  greatest  care  and  the  utmost  scrutiny 
have  been  exercised  in  seeing  that  the  greatest  amount  of  good 
and  substantial  work  has  been  accomplished  for  the  public  by  the 
least  outlay  of  money  consistent  with  the  highest  regard  for  the 
varied  interests  to  be  subserved,  and  for  the  general  welfare. 
The  growth  of  this  city  has  been  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of 
municipalities,  and  no  other  city  on  the  continent  is  so  peculiarly 
hampered  by  laws  relating  to  taxation  and  indebtedness  as  Chi- 
cago. The  imposition  of  obstacles  to  check  and  prevent  extrav- 
agance, waste,  recklessness  and  dishonesty,  is  highly  commenda- 
ble, for  the  earlier  experiences  of  all  cities  go  to  show  that  one 
or  the  other  of  these  features  has  prevailed,  to  the  great  injury 
of  the  tax  payer,  and  the  detriment  of  a  city  ;  but  there  certainly 
should  exist  laws  which,  while  they  protect  the  tax  payers,  should 
give  a  city  like  Chicago  the  power  to  secure  for  itself  appropria- 
tions adequate  to  the  continued  growth  and  increased  needs  of 
the  city.     As  to  how  this  end  could  be  accomplished  there  exists 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  299 

differences  of  opinion — some  holding  that  Chicago  should  con- 
stitute one  taxing  district,  under  one  assessor,  instead  of  three, 
as  at  present,  and  others  contending  that  the  laws  are  ample 
enough  were  only  supervisors  appointed  such  as  contemplated  by 
the  County  Commissioners  ;  but  just  what  sort  of  a  law  would 
cover  the  case  to  a  nicety  is  difficult  to  determine.  Certainly 
the  system  now  in  operation  does  not  produce  satisfactory  re- 
sults. The  assessments  do  not  keep  pace  with  the  population, 
and  while  it  may  not  precisely  present  the  exact  status  of  affairs, 
yet  it  may  be  stated  so  as  to  more  nearly  approximate  to  the 
truth,  that  while  our  population  has  increased  almost  in  a  o-eo- 
metrical  proportion,  the  assessments  have  increased  only  in  an 
arithmetical  proportion.  The  Comptroller,  in  his  annual  report 
to  your  body,  has  presented  a  tabulated  statement,  showing  the 
assessments  of  the  city  since  1872  down  to  the  present  time,  and 
as  I  do  not  propose  to  weary  you  by  a  long  array  of  figures,  1 
can  best  illustrate  the  defective  system  of  assessments  by  quoting 
one  of  his  concluding  observations  on  the  table  presented  by 
him.      He  says  : 

It  will  thus  be  seen,  from  the  foregoing,  that  in  May,  1872, 
but  a  few  months  after  the  fire  of  1871,  and  after  two  hundred 
millions'  worth  of  property  had  been  destroyed  by  the  conflagra- 
tion, valuations  reached  the  sum  of  $284,000,000.  Ten  years 
thereafter,  however,  with  a  doubled  population  (and  consequent 
increase  of  values)  and  a  replacement  of  property  destroyed 
largely  more  valuable  than  that  burned,  valuations  fell  to  J:he 
insignificant  sum  of  $125,358,537,  reaching  the  lowest  limits  in 
1880— $117,133,643. 

Before  the  session  of  the  Legislature  next  winter  I  trust  your 
honorable  body  may  be  able  to  devise  and  suggest  some  new 
plan  that  will  reach  and  remedy  the  difficulties  under  which  we 
now  labor,  and  that  thereafter  the  city  may  be  in  a  position  to 
secure  what  is  needed  to  make  improvements  absolutely  required 
by  a  city  fast  approaching  to  a  population  of  a  million. 

In  a  prior  message  to  the  Council  I  pointed  out  the  neces- 
sity of  a  great,  growing  and  prosperous  city  like  this  to  anticipate 
future  requirements,  by  the  construction  of  works  of  an  enlarged 
and  permanent  character.  This  can  only  be  done  by  the  issuance 
of  bonds,  so  guarded  by  provisions  of  law  as  to  prevent  any  reck- 
lessness or  dishonesty,  and  the  history  of  all  cities  shows  that  it 
has  only  been  in  this  manner  that  great  improvements  could  be 
carried  out,  so  as  to  not  only  meet  the  wants  of  a  present  time, 
but  future  possibilities  and  growth.     Great  undertakings  like  the 


300  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Suez  canal,  the  Panama  canal,  the  Pacific  railroads  and  like  en- 
terprises, have  been  projected  and  carried  out  long  before,  in 
anticipation  of  future  demands  and  requirements,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  pledging  future  resources  by  issuing  bonds  for  present 
fulfillment  of  vast  projects,  all  these  wonderful  works  would  still 
remain  mere  speculations,  and  undeveloped  in  the  womb  of  time. 
Now  that  Chicago  is  destined  beyond  a  peradventure  of  doubt,  to 
attain  in  time  a  population  of  2,000,000 — 1,000,000  of  it  in  the 
course  of  years  not  very  remote — the  efforts  of  the  present  should 
be  to  build  according  to  the  needs  of  so  large  a  population,  and 
what  money  may  be  required  to  that  end  should  be  secured 
largely  by  pledging  the  faith  and  credit  of  that  population  which 
will  enjoy  and  profit  by  all  permanent  improvements  of  a  public 
character.  It  certainly  would  be  too  much  to  ask  the  present 
population  to  reach  down  into  its  pockets  for  all  the  necessary 
means  to  construct  the  works  the  city  should  have,  in  addition  to 
what  taxes  it  may  pay  for  the  present ;  but  by  a  law  authorizing 
the  issuance  of  bonds  the  amount  to  be  paid  by  the  future  would 
be  a  mere  bagatelle,  spread  as  the  payments  would  be,  over  a 
series  of  years.  Had  the  city  not  anticipated  the  wants  of  the 
people  in  the  matter  of  waterworks,  the  supply  of  water  at  the 
present  time  would  have  been  inadequate  and  wholly  unsatisfac- 
tory, and  I  would  therefore  commend  to  your  careful  considera- 
tion the  maturing  of  some  law,  to  be  proposed  for  adoption  by 
the  people  of  the  state,  as  an  amendment  to  the  present  consti- 
tution of  the  state,  so  as  to  permit  the  city  to  issue  bonds  for  the 
construction  of  various  works  already  needed  by  the  present, 
and  absolutely  required  by  the  future.  The  agitation  of  this 
question  will  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  such  a  plan,  and  when 
fully  understood,  the  people  will  gladly  and  willingly  approve  of 
it.  The  finances  of  the  city,  as  I  have  already  stated,  have  been 
managed  with  prudence  and  economy,  and  the  year  safely  passed 
without  any  resort  to  methods  of  the  old  "scrip  days"  preceding 
1879.  The  receipts  of  last  year  were  :  From  saloon  licenses, 
$385,643.82,  of  which  $20,000  was  set  aside,  under  the  state  law, 
for  the  Washingtonian  home,  an  increase  over  the  preceding 
year  of  $189,702.45,  due  to  the  raising  of  license  fees  from  $52  to 
$103  ;  from  licenses  other  than  saloons,  $250,239.22,  an  increase 
of  $85,258.08,  and  from  the  two  per  cent,  tax  levy  $2,664,610.08, 
an  increase  of  $157,439.44.  Taking  as  a  basis  the  amount  of 
money  already  paid  in  for  saloon  licenses  for  the  four  months 
expiring  on  August  7  next,  the  probability  is  that  during  the 
municipal  year  of  1884-5  the  receipts  from  this  source  will  reach 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  3OI 

fully  $1,200,000;  but  had  the  clamors  of  a  partisan  press  been 
heeded  prior  to  July  i,  1883,  a  sum  far  less  than  that  would  only 
have  been  secured. 

The  time  for  changing  from  a  low  license  to  a  high  license 
was  exceedingly  short,  and  the  saloon-keepers  were  unprepared 
for  it,  as  they  expected  up  to  the  last  moment  that  the  so-called 
"  Harper  Act"  would  fail  of  passage  in  the  Legislature,  and  had 
not  your  honorable  body  exercised  its  lawful  prerogatives  before 
the  act  took  effect,  by  changing  the  municipal  year  so  as  to 
permit  the  issuance  of  licenses  on  a  basis  of  $103  before  the  date 
fixed  by  the  new  law,  the  consequences  would  have  been  that  on 
July  1,  the  time  when  the  old  municipal  license  year  expired, 
many  saloon-keepers  would  have  been  obliged  to  quit  business, 
as  they  would  have  been  unable  to  raise  within  the  time  $500, 
and  financially  ruined,  as  their  stock  in  trade  and  other  personal 
property  would  have  remained  on  their  hands,  unsalable  and  un- 
profitable. But  in  the  payment  of  $103  license  fee,  the  city 
derived  as  great  an  income  as  though  a  $150  fee  had  been  col- 
lected for  a  whole  year,  for  the  licenses  were  issued  for  a  period 
of  nine  months,  and  not  a  full  year,  as  some  have  imagined. 
Had  resort  been  made  to  enforce  upon  the  saloon-keepers  the 
Harper  bill  by  your  body,  the  effect  would  have  been  deplorable. 
There  was  an  almost  general  sentiment  that  the  effect  of  the  law 
in  this  city  was  harsh  and  extreme.  Those  trafficking  in  liquor 
felt  themselves  oppressed  unfairly,  and  were  resolved  to  resist  it 
to  the  utmost  in  their  power.  If  the  Council  had  failed  to  pass 
the  ordinance  of  June  18,  1883,  there  would  have  been  a  con- 
certed resistance  to  the  Harper  law,  prosecutions  would  have 
been  innumerable,  juries  sympathizing  with  the  offenders.  There 
would  have  been  that  worst  of  all  things  in  a  civilized  society — 
open  violations  of  the  law  and  meager  enforcements,  thus  bring- 
ing the  law  into  disrepute.  An  open  defiance  of  law  in  any 
direction  has  a  demoralizing  effect  upon  the  community.  The 
general  observance  of  the  rights  of  people  and  the  sanctity  of 
law  is  witnessed  by  the  non-molestation  of  the  frail  glass  that 
stands  between  the  occupant  of  a  domicile,  a  store  or  a  public 
building  and  the  people  outside,  and  of  the  tiny  key  that  can  be 
easily  duplicated  to  lock  or  unlock  the  habitations  of  man. 
When  once  people  witness  the  disregard  of  any  law,  there  grows 
a  general  contempt  of  all  law,  and  a  feeling  that  if  it  can  be 
easily  set  aside  in  one  case,  there  are  means  of  setting  it  aside  in 
other  cases.  Our  laws  are  not  like  the  laws  of  Draco — written 
in  blood — but  are  written  in  the  hearts  of  our  people,  and  any- 


302  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

thing  tending  to  diminish  respect  of  a  people  in  their  own  laws 
is  subversive  of  all  good  government.  If  laws  are  enacted  through 
passion  or  in  the  heat  of  the  moment,  people  should  bow  sub- 
missively and  wait  the  proper  time  for  their  repeal,  through  the 
forms  of  law,  and  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  land. 

But  the  timely  intervention  of  this  Council  prevented  any 
clashing  of  factions  and  any  attempt  at  a  general  disregard  of 
the  Harper  act.  For  this  action  of  yours  the  partisan  newspa- 
pers branded  you  as  law-breakers  and  nullifiers  of  the  law,  but 
the  vindication  of  your  course  finally  came  from  the  highest  judi- 
cial tribunal  in  the  state,  the  Supreme  Court,  which  has  amply 
sustained  the  legality  and  constitutionality  of  your  act.  The 
Harper  act  was  leveled  particularly  at  Chicago,  and  no  thought 
was  given  as  to  the  hardships  that  would  ensue  from  the  sudden 
deprivation  of  a  man's  business.  Had  ample  time  been  given, 
the  rights  of  saloon-keepers  would  have  been  better  regarded, 
but  the  suddenness  of  the  proposed  change  was  an  injustice 
which  only  extreme  temperance  fanatics  could  approve.  In  a 
temperance  speech  some  time  ago  at  Birmingham,  in  England, 
the  Hon.  John  Bright,  the  great  apostle  of  temperance,  as  well 
as  of  free  trade,  gave  utterance  to  these  words  :  "  If  a  trade  in 
the  country  is  permitted  by  law,  that  trade  has  a  right  to  be  de- 
fended by  law.  The  trade  of  the  licensed  victualers,  of  the 
sellers  of  alcoholic  drinks,  is  a  trade  that  has  been  permitted,  and 
I  think  Parliament  and  the  law  are  not  justified  in  inflicting  upon 
that  trade  unnecessary  difficulties  and  unnecessary  irritation. 
Now,  I  think  that  so  long  as  trade  is  not  condemned  by  Parlia- 
ment it  has  a  right  to  demand  that  it  should  not  be  subjected  to 
passionate  and  party  legislation.  *  *  *  In  legislating  on  a 
matter  of  this  kind,  violent  changes  are  not  necessary,  and  are  not 
wise."  He  deprecated  legislation  that  was  "violent,  unjust,  and 
regardless  of  the  habits  and  opinions  of  the  people  and  of  a  large 
minority,"  and  his  remarks  are  cogent  and  pertinent  as  though 
they  had  been  made  with  reference  to  the  Harper  legislation, 
which  comes  directly  under  the  purview  of  his  denunciations. 
Next  to  the  proper  management  of  the  finances  is  the  judicious 
expenditure  of  the  public  funds,  and  with  what  means  we  have 
had  in  the  Department  of  Public  Works  improvements  have 
been  made  wherever  practicable.  During  the  year  there  have 
been  laid  twenty-two  miles  of  cast  iron  water  pipes  from  four  to 
twenty-four  inches  in  diameter.  There  was  built  in  this  city  a 
total  of  over  fourteen  miles  of  sewer,  constructed  of  brick  and 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  303 

pipe,  and  there  was  also  laid  23.72  miles  of  street  pavements. 
Sidewalks  were  also  constructed  to  the  amount  of  ninety  miles. 
There  were  over  2,000  miles  of  streets  cleaned  at  a  cost  of  $70,- 
000.  The  amount  expended  on  the  new  City  Hall  during  the 
past  year  was  $166,815.36.  For  repair  of  bridges  and  viaducts 
there  was  expended  about  $65,000.  The  police,  fire,  and  health 
departments  have  been  managed  with  ability  and  efficiency,  and 
challenge  comparison  with  similar  departments  in  other  cities. 
Considering  the  amount  of  money  at  their  disposal,  the  people 
have  reasons  to  compliment  them  on  their  zeal  and  efficiency 
and  the  excellent  work  performed  by  them,  and  your  honorable 
body  will  fully  appreciate  what  has  been  done  for  the  city  by 
noticing  that  while  the  population  has  increased  rapidly  the  ex- 
penditures have  increased  but  slightly,  in  view  of  the  increased 
work  consequent  upon  the  growth  of  the  city. 

Before  concluding,  I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  ad- 
visability of  adopting  a  uniform  system  of  designating  the  thor- 
oughfares of  the  city,  and  numbering  the  houses.  Strangers  are 
directed  to  proceed  so  many  blocks  in  one  way  and  so  many  blocks 
in  another  direction  ;  they  are  still  in  a  bewildered  condition  on 
reaching  the  street  they  are  in  search  of,  as  to  how  far  they  have 
to  go  before  reaching  a  particular  number.  Now,  if  your  honorable 
body  would  pass  an  ordinance  designating  all  thoroughfares  run- 
ning North  and  South  as  "avenues,"  all  thoroughfares  running 
East  and  West  as  "streets,"  all  thoroughfares  a  block  or  less  in 
length  as  "places,"  all  thoroughfares  having  houses  over  one  hun- 
dred in  number  and  less  than  five  hundred,  as  "courts,"  and  all  thor- 
oughfares diagonally  crossing  other  streets,  etc.,  as  "roads,"  and 
then  fix  one  hundred  numbers  for  each  block,  the  wayfarer,  though 
lost,  could  readily  pick  his  way  out  and  expeditiously  find  his  lo- 
cality. Besides  being  an  aid  to  strangers,  the  system  would 
prove  a  great  convenience  to  our  own  people,  and  without  elab- 
orating upon  its  merits,  which  will  be  readily  seen  and  appreci- 
ated, I  trust  your  honorable  body  will  take  this  matter  under 
consideration,  and  pass  at  an  early  day  an  ordinance  that  will 
cover  it,  and  bring  about  the  desirable  change.  In  closing  the 
old  Council  and  inaugurating  the  new,  I  desire  to  return  my 
thanks  for  the  kind  courtesies  and  favors  at  your  hands  dur- 
ing the  past  year,  and  ask  the  kind  indulgences  of  the  new 
for  the  coming  year.  Carter  H.  Harrison,   Mayor. 

A  special  election  for  Alderman  of  the  Ninth  ward,  to  fill 
the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  John  H.  Foley,  was  held 
May  13,    1884.     W.  F.  Mahoney  received  950  votes,  and  James 


3°4 


POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 


Murray,  84.  Alderman  Mahoney  was  duly  installed  May  19. 
May  24  a  special  meeting  of  the  Council  was  called  to  take  ac- 
tion upon  the  death  of  Alderman  Michael  Gay  nor,  of  the  Ninth 
ward.  Alderman  Gaynor  was  assassinated  by  James  Dacey,  a 
so-called  "crank,"  who  had  an  imaginary  political  grievance 
against  Alderman  Gaynor.  Appropriate  resolutions  were 
adopted,  and  remarks  were  made  by  Aldermen  Lawler,  Dixon, 
Bond  and  Ryan.     The  resolutions  were  as  follows  : 

Whereas,  This  Council  has  learned  with  regret  and  sorrow 
of  the  death  of  our  late  colleague,  Alderman  M.  Gaynor,  who 
has  represented  in  this  body,  for  the  past  two  years,  the  Ninth 
ward,  and  discharged  his  duty  to  his  people  and  to  the  city  with 
zeal,  fidelity  and  ability  ;  and 

Whereas,  In  his  demise  this  body  has  lost  an  energetic 
member,  the  city  an  enterprising  citizen,  and  his  friends  a  warm 
and  true-hearted  man,  a  man  who  was  in  the  prime  of  life,  and 
always  active  in  the  interests  of  the  public,  striving  in  all  public 
measures  to  advance  the  growth,  prosperity  and  material  beauty 
of  the  city,  and  lending  his  efforts  and  influence  in  matters  cal- 
culated to  enhance  the  reputation  of  the  city  abroad  and  make 
it  the  great  center  of  the  Northwest ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Council  hereby  tender  the  afflicted  fam- 
ily of  our  late  colleague  our  sincere  and  heartfelt  sympathy  in 
their  sad  bereavement  and  their  irreparable  loss;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  as  a  proper  mark  of  respect,  this  Council 
do  attend  the  funeral  in  a  body,  and  that  during  the  day  of  the 
funeral  all  the  departments  of  the  city  be  closed  the  entire  day, 
and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  confer 
with  the  family  of  the  deceased  in  making  arrangements  for  the 
funeral ;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the  records 
of  this  Council,  and  that  a  copy  be  forwarded  to  the  family  of 
the  deceased.  July  15  a  special  election  was  held  in  the  Ninth 
ward,  and  John  Gaynor,  brother  of  the  deceased,  was  elected 
Alderman  for  the  unexpired  term  without  opposition,  receiving 
796  votes.  James  Dacey,  the  assassin  of  Alderman  M.  Gaynor, 
was  tried  at  Woodstock,  the  county  seat  of  McHenry  county, 
whence  the  case  went  on  change  of  venue.  He  was  twice  con- 
victed and  sentenced  for  the  crime,  the  Supreme  Court  refusing 
to  reverse  the  judgment.  He  was  reprieved  in  May,  1886,  by 
Governor  Oglesby,  and  a  commission  inquired  into  his  sanity, 
declaring  him  sane,  and  he  was  again  sentenced  to  be  hung,  and 
the  sentence  was  duly  executed  in  July,  1886. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

NATIONAL  CONVENTIONS  OF   I  884 THE  CAMPAIGN ACTION  OF  THE 

INDEPENDENTS STATE  CAMPAIGN THE   BRAND-LEMAN  FRAUD 

THE    MACKIN    CASE — MUNICIPAL    ELECTION    OF    I  885 THIRD 

WARD     BALLOT-BOX     ROBBERY ADOPTION     OF     THE      ELECTION 

LAW THE  ELECTION  COMMISSIONERS. 

The  year  1884  was  another  notable  one  for  Chicago  in  the 
annals  of  politics.  Both  the  Democratic  and  Republican  National 
Committees  decided,  after  proper  persuasion  by  delegations  of 
leading  Chicago  citizens,  to  hold  the  National  conventions  of 
their  respective  parties  in  Chicago.  The  Republican  National 
Committee  fixed  upon  Chicago  as  the  place  of  holding  the  Re- 
publican convention  at  a  meeting  of  the  committee  held  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  December  12,  188;,  and  a  sub-committee 
was  appointed  to  visit  Chicago  and  make  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments. The  sub-committee  met  at  the  Grand  Pacific  hotel 
March  22,  1884,  and  appointed  the  following  local  Committee  of 
Arrangements :  S.  B.  Raymond,  Chairman  ;  W.  K.  Sullivan, 
Secretary  ;  C.  B.  Farwell,  Eugene  Cary,  Gen.  Joseph  Stockton, 
E.  G.  Keith,  Morris  Selz,  Louis  Hutt,  John  Hoffman,  George 
E.  White,  Gen.  William  E.  Strong,  James  T.  Rawleigh,  John 
M.  Smyth,  John  Crerar,  O.  W.  Potter,  H.  N.  Higinbotham, 
Joseph  Schoeninger,  John  M.  Clark,  A.  H.  Carpenter.  The 
following  named  gentlemen  were  selected  as  a  Committee  on 
Finance  :  B.  P.  Moulton,  Chairman  ;  R.  A.  Keyes,  Secretary  ; 
J.  L.  Woodward,  Treasurer  ;  A.  C.  Bartlett,  George  C.  Clarke, 
Louis  Hutt,  O.  S.  A.  Sprague,  C.  M.  Wicker,  M.  B.  Hull,  Max 
A.  Meyer,  C.  D.  Hamill,  L.  C.  Huck,  Frank  M.  Blair,  Gen. 
Joseph  Stockton,  R.  T.  Crane,  H.  J.  MacFarland,  George 
Schneider,  J.  W.  Oakley,  T.  W.  Harvey,  John  C.  Hately/j. 
Harley  Bradley,  James  Van  Inwagen,  W.  H.  Sard,  J.  L.  Lom- 
bard. Under  the  direction  of  the  local  committee,  the  Exposi- 
tion building  was  again  elaborately  fitted  up  for  the  purposes  of 
a  convention  hall.  The  auditorium  of  the  convention  hall  of 
1880,  which  had  a  seating  capacity  of  13,000,  was  in  the  south 
end   of  the  building,  the  stage  facing  north,  while  the  hall  of 

20  1>5) 


306  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

1884  was  in  the  north  end  of  the  building,  with  the  stage  facing 
south,  during  the  deliberations  of  the  Republican  convention, 
and  when  the  hall  was  turned  over  to  the  Democratic  local  com- 
mittee the  stage  was  changed  to  the  west  side  of  the  audi- 
torium, facing  east,  the  acoustics  of  the  chamber  being 
somewhat  improved  thereby.  The  seating  capacity  of  this 
hall  was  9,500  people,  and  the  expense  of  making  it  ready 
was  borne  entirely  by  citizens  of  Chicago,  who  contributed 
liberally  to  the  expenses  of  both  conventions.  The  pay- 
ments for  the  work  of  building  the  hall  were  made 
jointly  by  the  Republican  and  Democratic  Finance  Com- 
mittees and  the  May  Music  Festival  Association.  The  canvass 
preceding  the  election  of  delegates  to  this  convention  was  a  close 
and  exciting  one  throughout  the  country,  and  many  incidents 
happened  to  widen  a  breach  that  apparently  existed  in  the  Re- 
publican ranks.  It  was  charged  that  the  "Stalwart"  adherents 
of  General  Grant  and  Roscoe  Conkling  would  defeat  Blaine,  if 
he  were  nominated.  Many  Republicans  opposed  James  G. 
Blaine,  the  leading  candidate,  on  the  score  of  his  record,  and  it 
was  considered  that  he  would  not  inaugurate  the  reforms  uni- 
versally desired,  if  he  should  be  elected  to  the  Presidency. 
Prior  to  the  convention  these  opponents  of  Blaine  were  con- 
sidered to  be  simply  a  dissatisfied  faction,  but  after  his  nomina- 
tion they  united  in  a  strong  Independent  organization,  and 
became  a  new  and  important  factor  in  politics.  In  nearly  every 
County,  Congressional  and  State  convention  held  by  the  Repub- 
licans throughout  the  country,  Chester  A.  Arthur  was  indorsed, 
and  his  administration  praised  by  speech  and  resolution.  There 
was  a  strong  Arthur  movement  in  Illinois,  which  in  Chicago  was 
represented  by  the  Chicago  Daily  News  and  the  Inter-Ocean, 
and  the  Arthur  Republicans  opposed  the  candidacy  of  John  A. 
Logan.  The  latter's  friends,  however,  controlled  the  party  ma- 
chinery, through  the  State  Central  and  District  Committees,  and 
a  majority  of  the  Illinois  delegates  elected  were  for  Logan  for 
President.  Among  the  visiting  clubs  present  at  the  convention 
was  a  large  organization  of  New  York  business  men,  who  favored 
the  nomination  of  Arthur,  and  a  similar  organization  of  Chicago 
business  men  co-operated  with  them  in  formulating  an  address, 
in  which  the  availability  of  Mr.  Arthur  and  the  unadvisability  of 
nominating  Mr.  Blaine  were  set  forth.  The  Republican  conven- 
tion— the  eighth  since  the  formation  of  the  party — convened 
Tuesday,  June  3,  at  12  o'clock  noon,  and  adjourned  Friday, 
June  6.     The  proceedings  were  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Rev. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  2>°7 

Frank  M.  Bristol  of  Chicago.  In  his  opening  address,  the 
Chairman  of  the  National  Committee,  Hon.  Dwight  M.  Sabin  of 
Minnesota,  referred  in  high  terms  of  praise  to  the  advantages 
offered  by  Chicago  as  a  place  for  holding  conventions,  and  the 
hospitality  displayed  by  her  citizens  in  the  entertainment  of 
guests.  There  was  a  contest  in  the  Second  Illinois  Congressional 
district  between  rival  delegates  representing  the  respective  inter- 
ests of  Chester  A.  Arthur  and  James  G.  Blaine,  and  the  latter. 
W.  H.  Ruger  and  C.  E.  Piper  and  their  alternates,  sitting  mem- 
bers, were  declared  by  the  Committee  on  Credentials  to  be 
entitled  to  retain  their  seats,  and  the  report  was  adopted  without 
further  contest. 

The  Illinois  delegates  organized  by  electing  Senator  S.  M. 
Cullom,  Chairman;  John  A.  Rinaker,  Vice-President;  Charles  T. 
Strattan,  Secretary ;  Burton  C.  Cook,  on  Credentials ;  R.  A. 
Halbert,  on  Organization;  S  C.  Collins,  on  Rules,  and  Clark 
E.  Carr  on  Resolutions.  Nominations  of  Presidential  candi- 
dates began  on  the  evening  of  the  third  day's  session.  When 
the  state  of  Illinois  was  called,  Senator  Shelby  M.  Cullom  placed 
in  nomination  John  A.  Logan,  speaking  as  follows  : 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  : — 
Twenty-four  years  ago  the  second  National  convention  of  the  Re- 
publican party  met  in  this  city  and  nominated  its  first  successful 
candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States.  Abraham  Lincoln 
led  the  Republican  party  to  its  first  great  victory  ;  and  stands 
to-day  in  the  estimation  of  the  world  as  the  grandest  man  and 
most  majestic  figure  in  modern  times.  Again,  in  1868,  another 
Republican  convention  came  together  in  this  city,  and  nominated 
as  its  candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States,  another  emi- 
nent citizen  of  Illinois,  Gen.  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  And  the  Repub- 
lican party  was  again  victorious.  Still  again,  in  1880,  the  Re- 
publican party  turned  its  face  toward  this  political  Mecca,  where 
two  successful  campaigns  had  been  inaugurated  ;  and  the  mar- 
tyred Garfield  led  the  Republican  hosts  to  another  glorious  vic- 
tory. Mr.  President  and  fellow-citizens,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be 
here.  There  are  omens  of  victory  in  the  air.  History  repeats 
itself.  There  are  promises  of  triumph  to  the  Republican  party 
in  holding  its  national  nominating  conventions  in  this  great  em- 
porium of  the  Northwest.  The  commonwealth  of  Illinois,  which 
has  never  wavered  in  devotion  to  Republican  principles  since  it 
gave  to  the  nation — aye,  the  world — the  illustrious  Lincoln,  not 
unmindful  of  her  honors,  her  obligations  or  her  duties,  has  com- 
missioned me,  through   its  Republican  voters,  to  present  to  this 


308  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

convention  for  its  consideration  as  the  standard-bearer  of  the 
Republican  party,  another  son  of  Illinois,  one  who  will  be  recog- 
nized from  one  end  of  this  land  to  the  other  as  an  able  states- 
man, a  brilliant  soldier,  and  an  honest  man — Gen.  John  A.  Lo- 
ga*:..  A  native  of  the  state  which  he  now  represents  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation,  reared  among  the  youth  of  a  section 
where  every  element  of  manhood  is  early  brought  into  play,  he 
is  eminently  a  man  of  the  people,  identified  with  them  in  inter- 
est, in  taste,  and  in  feeling,  and  enjoying  their  sympathy,  respect 
and  confidence.  The  safety,  the  permanency  and  the  prosperity 
of  the  nation  depend  upon  the  courage,  the  integrity,  the  intel- 
ligence and  the  loyalty  of  its  citizens.  When  yonder  starry  flag 
was  assailed  by  enemies  in  arms,  when  the  integrity  of  the  Union 
was  imperiled  by  organized  treason,  when  the  storm  of  civil  war 
threatened  the  very  life  of  the  nation,  this  gallant  son  of  the 
Prairie  state  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  returned  to  his  home,  and  was  among  the  first  of  our  cit- 
izens to  raise  a  regiment,  and  to  march  to  the  front  in  defense 
of  his  country.  Like  Douglas,  he  believed  that  in  time  of  war 
men  must  be  either  patriots  or  traitors  ;  and  he  threw  the  weight 
of  his  influence  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  and  Illinois  made  a 
record  second  to  none  in  the  history  of  states  in  the  struggle  to 
preserve  this  government.  Among  the  large  number  of  the 
brave  soldiers  of  the  late  war  whose  names  are  proudly  written 
on  the  scroll  of  fame,  none  appear  more  grandly  than  the  name 
of  Logan.  His  history  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  battles  of 
Belmont,  of  Donelson,  of  Shiloh,  of  Vicksburg,  of  Lookout 
Mountain,  of  Atlanta,  and  of  the  famous  March  to  the  Sea.  He 
never  lost  a  battle  ;  I  repeat  again,  Mr.  President  and  fellow  cit- 
izens, he  never  lost  a  battle  in  all  the  struggles  of  the  war. 
When  there  was  fighting  to  be  done  he  did  not  wait  for  orders  ; 
neither  did  he  fail  to  obey  orders  when  received.  His  plume, 
like  the  white  plume  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  was  always  to  be 
seen  at  the  point  where  the  battle  raged  hottest.  When  the  peo- 
ple of  his  state  asked  him  to  come  home,  to  run  for  Congress,  he 
replied,  "  No  ;  I  have  enlisted  for  the  war,  if  need  be,  to  die  ;  I 
have  drawn  my  sword  from  its  scabbard,  and  shall  never  return 
it  until  every  foe  is  disarmed,  and  every  state  back  in  the  Union." 
During  the  long  struggle  of  four  years,  he  commanded,  by  au- 
thority of  the  government,  first  a  regiment,  then  a  brigade,  then 
a  division,  then  an  army  corps,  and  finally  an  army.  He  remained 
in  the  service  until  the  war  closed,  when,  at  the  head  of  his  army, 
with  the  scars  of  battle  upon  him,  he  marched  into  the  capital  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  309 

the  nation,  and,  with  the  brave  men  whom  he  had  led  on  a  hun- 
dred hard-fought  fields,  was  mustered  out  of  service  under  the 
very  shadow  of  the  Capitol  building,  which  he  had  left  four  years 
before,  as  a  Member  of  Congress,  to  go  out  and  fight  the  battles 
of  his  country.  When  the  war  was  over,  and  gentle  peace,  which 
"  hath  her  victories  no  less  than  those  of  war,"  returned,  he  was 
again  called  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  take  his  place  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation.  In  a  service  of  twenty  years  in  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress he  has  shown  himself  to  be  no  less  able  and  distinguished 
as  a  statesman  than  he  was  renowned  as  a  soldier.  Cautious, 
prudent,  conservative  in  the  advocacy  of  measures  involving  the 
public  welfare,  ready  and  eloquent  in  debate,  fearless  in  defense 
of  the  rights  of  the  weak  against  the  oppressions  of  the  strong, 
he  stands  to  day,  and  I  say  it  without  disposition  to  pluck  one 
laurel  from  the  brow  of  any  man  whose  name  may  be  presented 
to  this  convention  ;  he  stands  to-day,  in  my  judgment,  closer  to 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  this  country  than  almost  any  other 
man  now  engaged  in  public  affairs.  No  man  has  done  more  in 
defense  of  those  principles  which  have  given  life,  and  spirit,  and 
victory  to  the  Republican  party  than  has  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illi- 
nois. In  all  that  goes  to  make  up  a  brilliant  military  and  civil 
career,  and  to  commend  a  man  to  the  favor  of  the  people,  he, 
whose  name  we  have  presented  here  to-night,  has  shown  himself 
to  be  the  peer  of  the  best. 

Benjamin  H.  Prentiss  of  Missouri,  seconded  the  nomina- 
tion of  Senator  Logan,  saying  that  he  had  been  the  friend  of 
humanity  ;  a  man  who  led  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  on  to 
Washington,  and  there  mustered  it  out  of  service  ;  a  man  whose 
star  upon  his  shoulder  shone  brighter  and  brighter  as  he  moved 
on — that  man  was  John  A.  Logan,  the  favorite  son  of  Illinois  ; 
the  favorite  of  the  Mississippi  valley  ;  the  favorite  of  the  West; 
and  you,  gentlemen,  if  you  knew  him  as  we  know  him — you  of 
the  East — would  learn  to  love  him.  He  is  a  man  in  a  position 
to-day  to  lead  on  again  to  victory. 

Why,  Mr.  President,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  entertain 
the  idea  for  a  moment  that  this  great  Republican  party  is  to  be 
defeated.  No  !  Whoever  we  nominate  is  to  be  the  President — 
whoever  we  select.     #****, 

Mr.  President,  I  believe,  Sir,  that  it  was  Epaminondas  of  old 
at  the  battle  of  Mantinea  who,  when  he  received  his  death  wound 
his  officers  carried  him  back  and  uplifted  him  to  the  heights 
above,  where  he  could  look  over  the  field  of  battle.  And  when 
they  perceived  him  in  the  agony  of  death,  they  wept.      "Oh,  why 


3IO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

do  you  weep  ?"  he  said  to  them.  "We  are  weeping,"  they  said, 
"because,  sir,  you  leave  us."  He  said  to  them  :  "Weep  not, 
dear  friends  ;  you  are  not  helpless.  Do  I  not  leave  you  two 
daughters,  Leuctra  and  Mantinea  ?" 

Ah,  John  A.  Logan  leaves  more  daughters  than  that. 
Everywhere  on  this  Western  field  of  battle  he  leaves  you  monu- 
ments of  his  greatness.  And  to-night  the  people  of  Illinois,  that 
love  the  man,  ask  you  to  come  and  help  us  recognize  the  services 
of  the  brightest  star  in  the  galaxy  of  the  volunteers  of  the  army. 
I  second  the  nomination  of  John  A.  Logan.     God  bless  his  name. 

James  G.  Blaine  of  Maine,  was  placed  in  nomination  by 
Judge  William  H.  West,  "the  blind  orator"  of  Ohio,  and  Ches- 
ter A.  Arthur  by  Martin  I.  Townsend  of  New  York.  The 
first  ballot  was  taken  on  the  fourth  day,  Friday,  at  12  o'clock, 
with  the  following  result :  Whole  number  of  delegates,  820; 
necessary  to  a  choice,  411  ;  whole  number  cast,  818.  James  G. 
Blaine,  334^;  Chester  A.  Arthur.  278;  George  F.  Edmunds, 
93;  John  A.  Logan,  63*^  ;  John  Sherman,  30;  Joseph  R.  Haw- 
ley,  13  ;  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  4  ;  W.  T.  Sherman,  2.  Of  the  44 
Illinois  votes,  Logan  received  40,  Arthur  1; — Abner Taylor;  and 
Blaine,  3  ; — J.  L.  Woodward,  J.  R.  Wheeler  and  George  R. 
Davis.  When  Illinois  was  reached  on  the  call  of  the  roll  for  the 
fourth  ballot,  the  following  occurred  : 

Mr.  S.  M.  Cullom  said  :  Mr.  President, — I  ask  leave  of 
this  convention  to  read  a  dispatch  which  I  received  a  few  mo- 
ments ago  from  Gen.  John  A.  Logan,  addressed  to  the  Illinois 
delegation.  (Cries  of  "Object  ;"  "Regular  order  ;"  "Call  the 
roll.") 

Mr.  Cullom.  I  ask  permission  to  read  this  telegram  : — 
"To  the  Republicans" — (Cries  of  "No  !"  "Regular  order.") 

Mr.  Cullom.  I  am  instructed  by  Gen.  Logan  to  withdraw 
his  name  from  this  convention,  and  shall  send  the  dispatch  to 
the  Secretary's  desk  to  be  read.  (Great  confusion,  and  cries  of 
"No,  no,  no.") 

The  President.  The  dispatch  can  not  be  read  except  with 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  convention. 

Mr.  Burrows,  of  Michigan.  Mr.  President,  I  make  this 
point  of  order,  that  the  reading  of  the  dispatch  is  not  in  order, 
and  nothing  is  except  the  calling  of  the  roll. 

The  President.     The  point  of  order  is  well  taken. 

Mr.  Cullom.  The  Illinois  delegation  then  withdraws  the 
name  of  Gen.  Logan,  and  gives  for  Blaine  thirty-four  votes,  for 
Logan  seven,  for  Arthur  three.  (Loud  cheering,  and  great 
confusion.) 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  311 

Mr.  Piper.  For  fear  there  may  be  some  mistake,  I  shall 
challenge  the  vote,  and  ask  for  a  call  of  the  roll.  There  is 
so  much  confusion  here  it  is  impossible  to  tell  what  is  being 
done.      I  challenge  the  vote,  and  demand  a  roll  call. 

The  roll  of  Illinois  was  then  called,  resulting,  for  Blaine,  34  ; 
for  Logan,  6 ;  for  Arthur,  3  ;  Messrs.  John  M.  Hamilton,  Abner 
Taylor  and  S.  B.  Raymond.  The  nomination  of  Mr.  Blaine 
having  been  made  unanimous,  the  convention  adjourned  until 
evening,  when  candidates  for  Vice-President  were  proposed. 
Mr.  P.  B.  Plumb  of  Kansas,  nominated  John  A.  Logan,  and 
the  nomination  was  seconded  by  representatives  of  various 
states.  Motions  were  made  to  make  the  nomination  by  accla- 
mation, but  the  roll  being  called  for,  a  ballot  was  taken,  result- 
ing:  Logan,  773  ;  W.  Q.  Gresham,  6;  J.  B.  Foraker,  1,  Gen. 
Logan's  nomination  was  made  unanimous. 

During  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  the  Hon.  W.  G. 
Donnan  of  Iowa,  presented  to  the  convention  a  petition  from 
the  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Association,  call- 
ing for  action  by  the  convention  favoring  constitutional  prohibi- 
tion. It  was  signed  by  Frances  E.  Willard,  President  ;  Carolina 
B.  Buell,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Mary  A.  Woodbridge,  Re- 
cording Secretary ;  L.  M.  N.  Stevens,  Assistant  .Secretary,  and 
Esther  Pugh,  Treasurer.  It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Rules,  and  ignored  in  the  platform. 

The  Illinois  Democratic  State  convention  was  held  at  Peoria 
July  2.  John  H.  Oberly,  chairman  of  the  State  Central  Com- 
mittee, opened  the  proceedings  with  a  speech  in  which  the  names 
of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  Grover  Cleveland,  Joseph  McDonald, 
and  William  R.  Morrison  were  mentioned,  and  they  were  re- 
ceived with  immediate  and  prolonged  applause  The  good  will 
expressed  toward  the  "old  ticket"  of  Tilden  and  Hendricks  was 
so  pronounced  that  an  effort  was  made  to  pledge  the  convention 
to  its  nomination  at  the  forthcoming  Chicago  convention.  Gen. 
McClernand  presented  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  it  was  the 
sense  of  the  convention  that  the  "  old  ticket" — Samuel  J.  Tilden 
and  Thomas  A.  Hendricks— should  be  nominated  for  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  by  the  National  con- 
vention to  assemble  at  Chicago  July  8.  The  Chair  decided  the 
resolution  not  in  order  at  that  time,  as  the  convention  was  as  yet 
in  the  act  of  perfecting  its  temporary  organization.  It  was  un- 
derstood that  the  friends  of  a  low  tariff  and  the  supporters  of 
William  R.  Morrison  would  attack  the  tariff  question  boldly,  and 
make  the  convention  platform  set  forth  their  position  in  unmis- 


312  POLITICS  AND   POLITICIANS, 

takable  terms.  The  platform  as  prepared  by  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions,  was  read  by  Hon.  S.  Corning  Judd.  It  rc-asserted 
the  declarations  of  the  Democratic  National  platform  of  1876, 
as  regarded  reforms  in  taxation  and  the  tariff,  and  contained  in- 
structions to  delegates  to  the  Chicago  convention  to  vote  as  a 
unit  in  favor  of  an  emphatic  declaration  by  that  body  for  a  tariff 
for  revenue  only. 

Mayor  Carter  H.  Harrison,  whose  nomination  for  Governor 
was  a  foregone  conclusion,  had  arrived  and  was  seated  as  a  proxy 
for  a  delegate  from  the  Fourth  (Chicago)  district.  He  arose 
and  attacked  the  tariff  plank  of  the  platform,  and  moved  to 
strike  out  that  part  relating  to  the  tariff.  The  convention  went 
into  an  uproar,  in  the  midst  of  which  William  R.  Morrison  arose 
and  said  the  people  could  not  be  deceived  by  words.  If  the 
convention  wanted  a  tariff  for  protection  let  them  declare  it.  He 
hoped  Mayor  Harrison  would  be  nominated  and  elected  Gov- 
ernor, but  that  his  motion  would  be  defeated.  John  M.  Palmer 
took  the  floor  and  asserted  that  if  Mayor  Harrison  was  not  will- 
ing to  make  the  run  on  this  platform  he  should  refuse  the  guber- 
natorial nomination  if  tendered  by  the  convention.  Mayor  Har- 
rison interrupted  the  speaker  and  said  that  his  position  was  being 
misrepresented,  and  that  he  had  moved  to  strike  out  merely  the 
instructions  to  delegates  to  vote  as  a  unit  on  the  question  in  the 
National  convention.  A  vote  was  taken  on  the  proposition  to 
strike  out  the  instructions,  amid  intense  excitement  and  confus- 
ion, the  result  being  653  for  striking  out,  and  623  against";  ma- 
jority for,  30,  which  came  almost  entirely  from  Cook  county.  The 
platform  as  amended  was  then  adopted  viva  voce.  Mayor  Har- 
rison was  then  nominated  for  Governor  by  acclamation,  the  bal- 
ance of  the  ticket  being  made  up  of  prominent  Democrats  from 
the  central  and  southern  sections  of  the  state. 

A  short  time  prior  to  the  assembling  of  the  Democratic 
National  convention  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the  aged  and  popular 
standard  bearer  of  1876,  had  a  powerful  following  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Democracy  who  favored  his  nomination  again.  He  wrote 
a  letter  in  which  he  unequivocally  declined  nomination.  This 
letter  has  been  admired  by  men  of  all  parties  for  its  pure  and 
lofty  tone  of  patriotism.  It  was  written  in  New  York  June  10, 
1884,  and  addressed  to  Daniel  Manning,  Chairman  of  the  New 
York  Democratic  State  Committee.  Mr.  Tilden  reiterated  his 
declination  of  June  18,  1880,  and  continued  as  follows  : 

"  At  the  present  time  the  considerations  which  induced  my 
action  in  1880  have  become  imperative.      I  ought  not  to  assume 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  313 

a  task  which  I  have  not  the  physical  strength  to  carry  through. 
To  reform  the  administration  of  the  federal  government ;  to  real- 
ize my  own  ideal,  and  to  fulfill  the  just  expectations  of  the  peo- 
ple, would  indeed  warrant,  as  they  could  alone  compensate,  the 
sacrifices  which  the  undertaking  would  involve  ;  but  in  my  con- 
dition of  advancing  years  and  declining  strength,  I  feel  no  assur- 
ance of  my  ability  to  accomplish  those  objects.  I  am,  therefore, 
constrained  to  say  definitely  that  I  cannot  now  assume  the  labors 
of  an  administration  or  of  a  canvass. 

"  Undervaluing  in  nowise  that  best  gift  of  heaven,  the  occas- 
ion and  the  power  sometimes  bestowed  upon  a  mere  individual 
to  communicate  an  impulse  for  good,  grateful  beyond  all  words 
to  my  fellow  countrymen,  who  would  assign  such  a  beneficent 
function,  I  am  consoled  by  the  reflection  that  neither  the  Demo- 
cratic party  nor  the  Republic  for  whose  future  that  party  is  the 
best  guaranty,  is  now  or  ever  can  be  dependent  upon  any  one 
man  for  their  successful  progress  in  the  path  of  a  noble  destiny. 
Having  given  to  their.welfare  whatever  of  health  and  strength  I 
possessed,  or  could  borrow  from  the  future,  and  having  reached 
the  term  of  my  capacity  for  such  labors  as  their  welfare  now  de- 
mands, I  but  submit  to  the  will  of  God  in  deeming  my  public 
career  forever  closed.  Samuel  J.  Tilden." 

While  there  were  many  candidates  for  the  Democratic  nomi- 
nation for  the  Presidency,  the  one  who  developed  the  most  sur- 
prising strength  was  Grover  Cleveland  of  New  York,  a  man 
entirely  new  in  national  politics.  He  had  been  Mayor  of  Buffalo 
and  Sheriff  of  his  county,  and  his  political  record  was  deemed 
irreproachable  by  his  friends.  This  was  considered  a  strong 
point  in  his  favor,  especially  since  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Blaine 
were  making  persistent  attacks  upon  his  record  as  a  public  man. 
The  Independents  of  the  East  were  satisfied  with  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's record  as  a  reformer,  and  he  was  besides  advantageously 
located  in  the  state  having  the  largest  number  of  electoral  votes. 
These  various  considerations,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  his 
friends  in  New  York  numbered  some  of  the  most  astute  mana- 
gers within  the  party  ranks,  gave  him  greater  prominence  than 
any  other  candidate  just  prior  to  the  convention.  The  leading 
spirits  of  the  party,  who  gained  control  of  the  convention, 
believed  that  if  the  Democrats  after  twenty-eight  years  of  defeat 
hoped  to  elect  a  President  they  must  adopt  a  decisive  platform, 
nominate  at  the  head  of  the  ticket  a  man  representing  the  living 
issues  of  the  day,  and  relegate  the  fossils  and  dead-weights  to 
the  rear.     Blaine  beine  an  avowed  Protectionist,  it  was  believed 


314  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

that  Mr.  Cleveland  would  not  refuse  to  run  on  a  "tariff  for 
revenue  only,"  or  a  tariff  reform  platform,  which  the  controlling 
element  of  the  Democracy  desired.  The  convention  was  to 
assemble  July  8,  and  the  tariff  reformers  were  on  the  ground 
early,  and  gave  notice  of  their  determination  to  force  the  conven- 
tion into  a  vigorous  and  definite  expression  upon  this  important 
and  all  absorbing  topic.  The  preparation  of  a  plank  in  reference 
to  the  tariff  to  be  presented  for  adoption  was  undertaken  by  such 
avowed  Free  Traders  as  William  R.  Morrison,  Henry  Watterson, 
Frank  Hurd  and  Francis  Kernan,  and  their  views  with  but  slight 
modifications  were  embodied  in  the  platform  upon  its  adoption. 
The  Republican  convention  in  June  had  been  prolonged  beyond 
the  expectations  of  many  far-sighted  politicians,  and  the  excite- 
ment ran  high  in  the  convention  hall,  the  hotel  lobbies,  and  in 
the  streets,  where  mass  meetings  and  processions  were  of  hourly 
occurrence,  but  the  Democratic  convention,  notwithstanding  the 
hot  and  sultry  July  weather,  far  outrivaled  the  Republican  gath- 
ering in  point  of  excitement,  enthusiasm,  fireworks,  the  music  of 
brass  bands  and  speeches  of  agitators,  who  endeavored  to  create 
and  control  local  feeling.  The  New  York  County  Democracy, 
1,500  strong,  headed  by  county  and  city  officials,  put  in  an  ap- 
pearance first  and  began  work  for  Cleveland  ;  John  Kelly  and 
the  Tammany  Hall  organization  came  next,  and  immediately 
opened  the  fight  in  opposition  to  Cleveland.  Local  political 
organizations  and  reception  committees  were  busily  engaged  for 
several  days  in  the  work  of  receiving  and  providing  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  political  clubs  from  all  the  chief  cities  of  the  country. 
Benjamin  F.  Butler,  who  had  already  been  nominated  for  the 
presidency  by  the  Anti-Monopolists  and  Greenback  party  in  the 
East,  and  who  had  accepted  in  a  letter  dated  at  Lowell,  Mass., 
June  15,  was  present  as  a  delegate  in  the  Democratic  convention 
and  a  recognized  candidate  for  the  Democratic  presidential  nom- 
ination. On  the  evening  of  July  5  the  local  labor  organizations 
held  a  Butler  demonstration.  There  was  a  procession  in  which 
about  3,000  men  participated,  and  it  was  viewed  by  not  less  than 
50,000  spectators  along  the  line  of  march.  Gen.  Butler  attempted 
to  address  the  multitude  at  the  Palmer  house,  but  the  uproar 
was  so  great  he  could  not  make  himself  heard,  and  was  forced  to 
retire.  It  was  known  that  the  New  York  delegation  was  divided, 
and  that  forty-nine  delegates  were  for  Cleveland,  the  remaining 
twenty-three  being  for  Flower,  Bayard  and  Slocumb,  and  that 
John  Kelly,  Senator  Grady  and  Gen.  Butler  would  make  a  united 
and  bitter  fight  to  defeat  Cleveland's   nomination.     All  of  this 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  315 

added  to  the  excitement  and  the  intense  interest  everywhere 
manifested  as  to  the  probable  outcome  of  the  convention.  The 
Illinois  delegation  organized  as  follows  :  John  M.  Palmer,  Chair- 
man ;  W.  H.  Barnes,  Secretary  ;  A.  J.  O'Connor,  Credentials  ; 
W.  A.  J.  Sparks,  Permanent  Organization;  William  R.  Morri- 
son, Resolutions;  S.  Corning  Judd,  National  Committeeman; 
A.  E.  Stevenson,  Notification ;  Anthony  Norton,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;   Harry  Rubens,  Convention  Secretary. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  at  12  o'clock  July  8,  and 
the  first  division  occurred  on  the  question  of  enforcing  the  unit 
rule  as  to  the  New  York  delegates  in  accordance  with  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Saratoga  convention.  During  the  debate  Carter 
Harrison  spoke  in  opposition  to  the  enforcement  of  the  unit  rule. 
The  National  Committee  presented  a  resolution  providing  for 
the  government  of  the  convention  by  the  same  rules  as  those 
that  governed  the  convention  of  1880,  which  recognized  the  unit 
rule.  Senator  Grady  of  New  York,  offered  an  amendment  pro- 
viding for  the  recording  of  the  votes  of  individual  delegates. 
The  amendment  was  lost,  and  the  unit  rule  adopted  by  a  vote  of 

445  to  35o. 

The  Committee  on  Platform  met  in  the  rooms  of  the  Iro- 
quois club  and  found  themselves  in  a  dead-lock  on  the  tariff  ques- 
tion, the  vote  on  chairman  being  eighteen  for  William  R.  Mor- 
rison, Tariff  reform,  to  eighteen  for  George  L.  Converse, 
Protection.  A  compromise  was  made  on  Malcolm  Hay  for  tem- 
porary chairman  of  the  committee.  The  committee  was  ad- 
dressed in  behalf  of  the  Irish  National  League  of  America  in 
opposition  to  absentee  landlords  in  this  country  by  Alexander 
Sullivan  of  Chicago,  President  of  the  League. 

William  H.  Vilas  of  Wisconsin,  was  made  President  of  the 
convention.  July  9  another  test  vote  between  the  two  elements 
in  the  convention  was  taken  on  a  motion  to  lay  on  the  table  a 
motion  to  proceed  with  the  nomination  of  candidates.  When 
New  York  was  called  Chairman  Manning  announced  72  votes 
no,  and  was  sustained  by  the  Chairman  of  the  convention  in  vot- 
ing his  delegation  as  a  unit  under  the  instructions  of  the  New 
York  State  convention,  and  the  vote  of  the  convention  as 
recorded,  stood:  Ayes,  282;  noes,  521.  The  convention  pro- 
ceeded to  the  nominations,  brilliant  speeches  being  made  by  many 
eminent  speakers  in  favor  of  Senator  Bayard,  Senator  McDon- 
ald, Senator  Thurman,  John  G.  Carlisle,  Grover  Cleveland,  Sam- 
uel Randall  and  George  Hoadley.  Mr.  Lockwood  of  New 
York,  presented  Cleveland's  name,  and  the  nomination  was  sec- 


316  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

onded  by  Carter  Harrison.  Senator  Grady  dissented  and 
charged  that  the  laboring  men  and  the  Irish  Catholics  would  not 
support  Cleveland.  Mayor  Harrison  repelled  this  statement. 
The  name  of  Benjamin  F.  Butler  was  not  presented.  July  10 
Mayor  Harrison  denied  the  accusation  made  by  certain  speakers 
that  he  had  packed  the  hall  with  a  clique  to  applaud  his  speech 
for  Cleveland.  On  the  evening  of  July  10,  when  the  Committee 
on  Platform  had  reported,  Gen.  Butler  made  a  minority  report 
in  favor  of  a  protective  tariff.  A, vote  was  taken  on  the  adop- 
tion of  Gen.  Butler's  substitute,  and  it  was  rejected,  yeas  97%, 
nays  714^,  and  the  majority  platform  was  adopted. 

The  first  ballot  for  a  Presidential  candidate  was  taken  at  12 
o'clock  midnight,  resulting,  Hoadley,  3;  Carlisle,  27;  Randall,  78; 
Thurman,  88;  McDonald,  56;  Bayard,  170;  Cleveland,  392. 
Illinois  cast  28  for  Cleveland,  11  for  McDonald,  2  for  Bayard,  1 
for  Thurman,  1  for  Randall,  and  1  for  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  the 
latter  vote  being  that  of  Alderman  E.  F.  Cullerton  of  Chicago. 
On  the  morning  of  July  11  it  early  became  apparent  that  the 
Indianians  and  local  friends  of  Hendricks  were  present  in  the 
convention  in  large  numbers.  On  the  second  and  last  ballot  the 
voting  had  proceeded  in  the  call  of  states  as  far  as  Illinois,  and 
when  the  Chairman  of  the  Illinois  delegation  began  to  announce 
the  vote  as,  Hendricks  1,  there  suddenly  broke  out  a  scene  of 
wild  and  enthusiastic  tumult,  the  cheering  drowning  every  other 
sound,  and  continuing  for  fifteen  minutes.  It  was  too  late  to 
stampede  the  convention,  however,  and  the  further  announce- 
ment of  38  votes  from  Illinois  for  Cleveland  somewhat  lessened  the 
Hendricks  enthusiasm.  It  was  seen  that  Cleveland  was  nominated. 
Illinois  first  changed  to  37  for  Cleveland,  Hendricks  1,  Bayard 
3,  McDonald  3,  and  then  to  44  votes  solid  for  Cleveland.  On 
the  official  record  Illinois  stood,  Cleveland  43,  McDonald  1  ; 
and  the  vote  for  each  candidate  as  formally  announced  was,  Cleve- 
land, 683;  McDonald,  2;  Bayard,  8ij^;  Thurman,  4;  Hen- 
dricks, 45^  ;  Randall,  4. 

The  convention  adjourned  until  evening,  when  candidates 
for  Vice-President  were  placed  in  nomination.  Gen.  W.  S.  Rose- 
crans,  Joseph  E.  McDonald,  Gen.  John  C.  Black  of  Illinois, 
George  W.  Glick  and  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  were  named.  Gen. 
Black  declined  to  allow  the  use  of  his  name,  saying  he  had 
pledged  his  allegiance  to  Senator  McDonald  so  long  as  the  latter's 
name  was  before  the  convention.  A  number  of  spirited  speeches 
were  made  in  favor  of  nominating  Mr.  Hendricks  by  acclama- 
tion,  Delegate    Wallace  of  Pennsylvania,  saying  he   had  been 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  317 

once  chosen  Vice-President  and  was  despoiled  of  the  office.  The 
clerk  proceeded  to  call  the  roll  of  the  states,  and  Mr.  Hendricks 
was  nominated  unanimously. 

The  Prohibition  National  Convention  convened  at  Pitts- 
burgh, July  24  ;  criticised  the  Republican  convention  for  ignor- 
ing the  Prohibition  petition  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union  ;  adopted  a  national  Prohibition  platform  and  nomi- 
nated John  P.  St.  John  of  Kansas,  for  President,  and  William 
Daniel  of   Maryland,  for  Vice-President. 

Benjamin  F.  Butler  formally  accepted  the  nomination  ten- 
dered him  by  the  Greenback  and  Anti-Monopoly  convention  in  a 
letter  containing  eleven  thousand  words  in  condemnation  of  the 
action  of  the  Democratic  convention  on  the  tariff,  and  bidding 
for  the  support  of  the  labor  element  of  the  country.  This  letter 
was  dated  August  12,  and  published  August  18.  The  idea  be- 
came prevalent  that  Butler  in  reality  favored  the  election  of 
Blaine,  and  that  his  candidacy  was  but  a  ruse  to  draw  off  Demo- 
cratic  votes,  and  thereby  bring  about  the  result  desired.  He 
received  but  few  votes  in  Chicago. 

The  Independents  enrolled  under  their  standard  many  anti- 
Blaine  Republicans  and  a  large  percentage  of  the  floating  vote, 
and  this  important  influence  was  thrown  in  favor  or  Cleveland. 
The  leaders  were  called  bolters  and  "mugwumps,"  and  were  bit- 
terly assailed  by  the  Republican  party  organs  on  every  hand. 
In  Chicago  there  was  a  strong  local  organization  and  the  Chicago 
Daily  News  was  the  medium  through  which  independent  senti- 
ment found  expression  in  the  Northwest.  A  majority  of  the 
Independents  were  tariff  and  civil  service  reformers.  There  was 
an  active  local  Executive  Committee  composed  of  Franklin  Mac- 
Veagh,  Gen.  A.  C.  McClurg,  W.  T.  Baker,  E.  G.  Mason,  George 
C.  Clarke,  James  F.  Claflin,  Henry  A.  Gardner,  Slason  Thomp- 
son and  Edwin  Burritt  Smith. 

In  an  address  to  the  voters  of  Chicago  and  the  state  at  large 
the  committee  had  the  following  to  say  : 

To  Republicans  and  Independent  Voters  : — The  nomina- 
tion of  James  G.  Blaine  for  the  presidency  by  the  Republican 
National  convention  of  18S4,  has  precipitated  a  question  of  great 
difficulty  and  supreme  moment  upon  the  American  people.  By 
this  action  the  voter's  attention  is  forced  away  from  the  consider- 
ation of  party  principles  and  policies,  to  the  scrutiny  of  party 
candidates  and  the  duties  of  citizenship.  It  is  all  the  more  de- 
plorable and  dangerous  because  Mr.  Blaine's  nomination  was 
made  with  all  the  outward  forms   and  circumstance  of    popular 


3IO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

party  choice.  But  those  who  were  on  the  spot  know  how  ficti- 
tious is  the  claim,  that  it  was  the  irresistible  demand  of  the  great 
body  of  Republicans  of  the  Northwest.  They  are  not  oblivious 
to  the  necessity  of  honor,  integrity  and  a  pure  record  in  a  presi- 
dential candidate,  however  noisy  and  bawling  politicians  may 
misrepresent  them. 

We  know  that  Cook  county  was  represented  in  the  June 
convention  by  at  least  two  men  who  were  elected  to  oppose 
Blaine  and  voted  for  him.  One  of  these  men  deliberately  betrayed 
the  trust  reposed  in  him  by  his  district.  We  know  not  how  many 
others  were  brought  to  Mr.  Blaine's  support  as  he  was,  nor  the 
means  used  to  accomplish  this  man's  conversion.  Living  in 
Chicago,  some  of  us  remember  the  spirit  of  liberty  that  ani- 
mated the  Republican  convention  which  nominated  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  i860,  and  we  saw  the  political  vultures  who  domi- 
nated the  convention  which  nominated  James  G.  Blaine  in  1884. 
The  men  who  had  been  fighting  to  keep  on  the  outside  of  a 
jail  in  Washington  fought  for  the  nomination  of  James  G. 
Blaine  in  Chicago.  No  unknown  man  was  nominated.  His 
record  is  notorious.  Its  "magnetic  brilliancy"  cannot  hide  its 
utter  lack  of  principle,  unselfish  purpose,  or  public  good  accom- 
plished. As  a  Member  of  Congress  his  voice  was  never  raised, 
his  vote  never  cast,  for  a  measure  to  protect  the  public  domain 
from  the  raids  of  land-grabbers  and  corporate  plunderers. 

As  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  did.  not 
scruple  to  prostitute  a  judicial  decision  to  personal  gain.  As 
United  States  Senator,  in  the  words  of  Senator  Edmunds,  "he 
jumped  up,  musket  in  hand,  from  behind  the  breastworks  of  Jay 
Gould's  lobby  to  fire  into  the  backs  "  of  those  Senators  who  were 
endeavoring  to  make  the  Union  Pacific  railway  company  keep  its 
contract  with  the  government.  As  Secretary  of  State,  for  a  brief 
period,  he  made  the  United  States  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  foreign 
powers  of  the  first  rank,  while  indulging  in  a  questionable  interfer- 
ence with  the  affairs  of  minor  nationalities.  His  appointment  of 
a  disgraced  officer  of  the  army,  to  represent  this  country  as  Min- 
ister to  Peru,  in  order  that  he  might  bully  that  distressed  power 
into  the  recognition  of  a  private  claim,  is  not  forgotten  in  Illi- 
nois, where  that  officer  was  known.  As  a  private  citizen  of  na- 
tional influence  he  has  not  shrunk  from  advising  the  distribution 
of  the  surplus  in  the  treasury  among  the  states  in  such  a  way 
as  to  afford  a  vast  corruption  fund  in  the  hands  of  the  dominant 
party.  The  public  standards  and  methods  of  Mr.  Blaine  are 
thoroughly  corrupt  and  demoralizing.      He  treats  public  office  as 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  319 

a  private  acquisition.  He  makes  use  of  its  opportunities  to 
enrich  and  advance  himself.  He  prostitutes  its  powers  to  reward 
his  friends  and  to  punish  and  proscribe  those  who  oppose  him. 
What  has  been  accomplished  toward  administrative  reform  has 
been  effected  without  his  aid.  In  fact,  he  and  those  closely  asso- 
ciated with  him,  have  been  conspicuous  anions  those  to  be 
reformed.  His  late  profession  of  acceptance  of  the  reformed 
system  must  be  viewed  with  great  suspicion  by  those  who  are 
familiar  with  his  career,  and  do  not  now  overlook  the- methods  of 
himself  and  his  friends  in  the  present  campaign.  Those  who 
stand  behind  the  Washington  Committee  and  receive  its  "collec- 
tions" cannot  be  trusted  with  the  execution  and  improvement  of 
the  Civil  Service  Act.  Our  opposition  to  Mr.  Blaine  is  based 
upon  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  candidate  himself,  and  the 
public  records.  The  strength  of  our  position  is  exactly  meas- 
ured by  the  force  of  that  evidence.  Everything  now  known 
against  Mr.  Blaine  was  known  when  he  was  nominated  last  June. 
In  the  conventions  of  1876  and  1880,  a  healthy  respect  for  the 
honest  sentiment  of  the  country  defeated  him.  But  in  1884  the 
corrupt  influences  which  he  represented,  in  defiance  of  repeated 
warnings,  forced  him  upon  the  party. 

Believing  that  popular  indifference  to  dishonesty  and  cor- 
ruption in  office  is  a  menace  to  good  government ;  that  a  party 
nomination  cannot  cleanse  a  sooty  record  ;  that  when  party  ac- 
tion ceases  to  respond  to  the  pure  and  honest  sentiment  within 
it.  it  becomes  party  tyranny  ;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  intelligent 
citizens  to  look  on  parties  as  the  aids  to  good  government,  not 
the  idols  for  individual  worship  ;  that  to  accept  inevitably  the 
offerings  of  a  party  convention,  good  or  bad,  deprives  the  voter 
of  his  inalienable  rights  ;  that  Blaine's  nomination  has  compro- 
mised the  Republican  party,  and  his  election  would  dishonor  the 
nation,  and  believing  that  its  defeat  now  may  be  the  salvation  of 
that  party,  that  through  the  valley  of  tribulation  it  may  come 
into  a  purer  life,  we  declare  our  unalterable  opposition  to  the  elec- 
tion of  James  G.  Blaine.  Whether  we  shall  support  Grover 
Cleveland,  must  be  left  to  individual  choice.  Of  him  we  have 
this  to  say  :  His  nomination  was  made  by  the  Democratic  party 
in  response  to  the  call  for  a  man  whose  official  life  in  sterling  in- 
tegrity and  unwavering  honesty  should  afford  the  strongest  pos- 
sible contrast  to  that  of  James  G.  Blaine.  He  has  been  thor- 
oughly tried  and  found  firm  and  able  to  withstand  the  worst  ele- 
ments of  his  own  party.  The  manner  of  his  nomination  com- 
mends him  to  us.      No  malignant  assaults  upon  his  past  private 


320  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

life  have  weakened  his  public  record,  or  can  alter  the  just  and 
high  aim  of  the  convention  which  nominated  him.  The  present 
is  a  good  time  to  rebuke  the  insolent  arrogance  of  unprincipled 
politicians  who  put  up  their  chief  and  invoke  party  leaky  to 
make  him  ruler  of  55,000,000  people.  The  pernicious  doctrine 
that  the  act  of  a  convention,  if  it  nominate  Beelzebub,  binds  the 
consciences  and  votes  of  the  party,  is  the  issue  in  this  campaign. 
Shall  it  prevail  ?  We  firmly,  honestly,  sincerely  believe  not. 
To  elect  Blaine  is  to  set  him  up  as  a  model  for  the  youth  of 
America.  To  defeat  him  is  to  make  his  course  a  warning  for 
all  time.  Therefore  all  Republicans  and  Independents  who  be- 
lieve that  the  interests  of  good  government,  official  honesty, 
efficient  public  service,  purity  at  the  primaries,  and  the  honor  of 
the  American  people,  demand  the  defeat  of  James  G.  Blaine,  are 
invited  to  place  their  names  upon  our  rolls  and  aid  us  in  every 
honorable  way  to  prevent  his  election  as  President  of  the  United 
States." 

The  state  campaign  was  also  replete  with  excitement  and 
interest,  and  close  contests  were  waged  between  rival  candidates 
for  Congress.  In  the  First  Chicago  district  the  Republicans  re- 
nominated R.  W.  Dunham,  and  the  Democrats  named  as  his 
opponent  William  M.  Tilden,  a  cousin  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  In 
the  Second  district  the  Democrats  offered  to  nominate  John  F. 
Finerty,  who  two  years  before,  as  an  Independent  Democrat,  had 
defeated  Henry  F.  Sheridan,  the  regular  Democratic  nominee, 
providing  he  would  support  the  National  Democrat  ticket;  Mr. 
Finerty,  however,  resolutely  refused  to  thus  pledge  himself,  and 
he  cast  his  fortunes  and  the  influence  of  his  paper,  The  Citizen, 
an  Irish  National  weekly,  with  Blaine  and  for  a  Protective  tariff. 
The  Democrats  thereupon  nominated  Frank  Lawler,  Alderman 
from  the  Eighth  ward,  who  had  a  strong  following  among  the 
laboring  element  of  the  district.  In  the  Third  district  the  sup- 
porters of  George  R.  Davis  and  William  E.  Mason  were  di- 
vided by  the  result  of  the  primaries.  A  contest  ensued  as  to 
who  should  stand  as  the  Republican  candidate,  which  was  car- 
ried to  the  National  Committee  for  arbitration  A  decision  was 
rendered  in  favor  of  Mr.  Mason,  and  Mr.  Davis  apparently 
withdrew,  but  upon  his  return  from  the  East,  his  supporters 
placed  Gen.  James  Fitzsimons  in  the  field  against  Mr.  Mason. 
The  Democrats  in  this  favorable  emergency  nominated  James 
Ward  as  their  candidate  in  the  district.  In  the  Fourth  Chicago 
district,  the  Republicans  re-nominated  George  E.  Adams,  and 
the  Democrats  nominated  John  P.  Altgeld. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  32  I 

In  their  State  convention  the  Republicans  nominated  Rich- 
ard J.  Oglesby  for  Governor,  and  the  Democrats,  as  has  been 
shown,  nominated  (garter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor  of  Chicago,  as 
their  candidate.  Both  candidates  made  a  personal  canvass,  and 
stumped  the  state  from  end  to  end,  addressing  some  of  the  great- 
est meetings  ever  held  in  Illinois. 

The  Prohibitionists  also  ran  a  full  state  ticket,  with  J.  B. 
Hobbs  of  Chicago,  for  Governor,  and  the  ticket  received  an  im- 
portant, but  not  excessively  large,  vote.  Blaine's  plurality  for 
President,  in  Cook  county,  was  8,169  I  Harrison's  for  Governor, 
348.  Oglesby's  plurality  in  the  state  was  12,192,  and  Blaine's 
26,399. 

The  official  vote  of  Cook  county  in  the  general  election  of 
November,  1884,  was  as  follows  : 

FOR    PRESIDENT. 

James    G.     Blaine,    average,  69,251  ;     highest,  68,271 

Grover  Cleveland,  "  60,663  ;  "  60,652 

John   P.   St.   John,    --.---         996 

Benjamin   F.    Butler, 812 

Blaine's  plurality,   8,619;  majority,  6,841. 

STATE    TICKET    FOR    GOVERNOR. 

Carter  H.  Harrison, 65,313 

Richard  J.   Oglesby, 64,965 

J.   B.    Hobbs,        ------  947 

Harper,   Greenback,  Anti-Monopoly,  -         -  409 

Harrison's  plurality,  348. 

In  this  election  Jacob  Gross,  Rep.,  of  Chicago,  was  a  can- 
didate for  State  Treasurer  against  Alfred  Orendorff,  Dem.,  of 
Springfield  ;  Copp,  the  Prohibitionist  candidate,  and  Goodhue, 
the  Anti-Monopoly.  The  vote  in  Cook  county  was  :  Gross, 
69,033;  Orendorff,  61,018  ;  Copp,  1,049;  Goodhue,  669.  Gross' 
majority,  6,297. 

The  Republican  Electoral  ticket  received  18,180  majority 
in  the  state,  and  Oglesby's  majority  was  1 1,532  in  the  state. 
The  popular  vote  in  the  state  was,  for  Blaine,  337,586;  for 
Cleveland,  312.314,  making  Blaine's  plurality  25,272. 

CONGRESSIONAL  VOTE. 

First  district,  Dunham,  Rep.,  20,245;  Tilden,  Dem.,  14,655  ; 
Clark,  Prohibition,  501  ;  Gates.  Anti-Monopoly,  288. 

Second  district,  Lawler,  Dem.,  13,954;  Finerty,  Rep.,  11,- 
552  ;   Kellett,  Prohibition,  23. 


322 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


Third  district,  Ward 
Fitzsimons,  Rep.,  8,928 
Monopoly,  259. 

Fourth  district,  Adams,  Rep 
Austin,  Prohibition,  467. 


Dem.,  15,601  ;  Mason, 
Lee,  Prohibition,   280 


Rep.,    10,806  ; 
Boyd,   Anti- 


18,333  ;  Altgeld,  Dem.,  15,291 


COUNTY  TICKET STATES  ATTORN 

Grinnell,  Dem.,          .... 
Mills,  Rep  , 

Wilson,  Prohibition, 
Scoville,  Anti-Monopoly, 

RECORDER. 

Scribner,  Rep.,  . 

Donnersberger,  Dem., 
Jenkins,    Prohibition, 
Jenkinson,  Anti-Monopoly,    . 

CORONER. 

Hertz,  Rep.,      ..... 
Boyden,  Dem.,       ..... 
Hutchins,  Prohibition, 
Coulton,  Anti-Monopoly, 

CLERK  OF  APPELLATE  COURT. 

Healy,  Rep.,  .... 

Curran,  Dem.,        ..... 
McDowall,  Prohibition,     . 
Adams,  Anti-Monopoly, 

CLERK  OF  SUPERIOR  COURT. 

McGrath,  Rep.,  .... 

Donovan,  Dem.,  .... 

Butler,  Prohibition, 
Grogan,  Anti-Monopoly, 

CLERK  OF  CIRCUIT  COURT. 

Best,  Rep.,         ..... 
Hoechster,   Dem.,  .... 

Whitcomb,  Prohibition, 
Huck,  Anti-Monopoly, 

COUNTY    SURVEYOR. 

Foster,  Rep., 

Carlson,  Dem.,       ..... 
Williamson,  Prohibition, 


68,329 

60,685 

1,064 

621 


68,879 

60,933 

1,604 

73 

69,950 

59>935 

9i5 

509 

68,822 

60,791 

1,087 

641 

69,244 

60,283 

1,008 

641 

69,252 

60,512 

977 

657 


3i7 

.511 
662 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  323 

COUNTY  COMMISSIONERS. 

First  district,  McDonald,  50,988  ;  Wren,  50,414  ;  O'Brien, 
48,724;  Shehan,  48,625;  Wait,  467;  Busch,  460;  Henschell, 
392  ;  Creek,  385  ;  Boyle,  13;  Jansen,6.  Second  district,  Klehm, 
4,824;  Weckler,  3,185;  Jansen,  323;  Kalstrom,  13.  Fourth 
district,  McCarty,  5,285;  Kotzenberg,  4,319;  Doyle,  154;  Os- 
terholm,  6.  Sixth  district,  McClaughrey,  1,140;  Reed,  910; 
Payne,  10. 

The  State  Senators*  and  Representatives  elected  at  this 
election,  together  with  the  vote  received  by  the  various  candi- 
dates, were  as  follows  : 

SENATORS. 

Second  district,  Crawford,  10,749;  Newberry,  7,575;  Neil, 
214;  Nordengreen,  173.  Fourth  district,  Cantwell,  5,466; 
Mamer,  5,153;  Lawrence,  2,125;  Whitlock,  234;  Gilmore,  15. 
Sixth  district,  Brand,  9,696f ;  Leman,  9,686 ;  Moulding,  27  ; 
Arnold,  15. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

First  district,  McHale,  7,818^  ;  Kennedy,  7,289^;  Parker, 
6,782  ;  Dolan,  6,159;  McGovern,  2,65114';  Carter,  3,447;  Foley, 
228;  Dewey,  198.  Second  district,  Harper,  16,247;  Parker, 
15,400^;  Hummel,  13,060;  Danforth,  10,217^;  Starkweather, 
846^  ;  Connelly,  532^  ;  Scarry,  3.  Third  district,  Thomas, 
10,691^  ;  Taylor,  10,136  ;  McNally,  8,344;  Cass,  7,651  ;  Daven- 
port, 57  ;  Barr,  461^  ;  Starkweather,  18.  Fourth  district,  Mur- 
phy, 8,893  !  Quinn>  8,146  ;  McMillan,  7,787^  ;  White,  7,713^  ; 
Jackson,  5,069;  Catlin,  597.  Fifth  district,  Powell,  11,728;  Ma- 
honey,  7,805^  ;  Dorman,  6,761  ;  Taylor,  5,310  ;  Dwyer,  955^  ; 
Strohlein,  138  ;  Tapley,  7  ;  Kennedy,  6.  Sixth  district,  Bou- 
telle,  15,475;  Sullivan,  13,495;  Sittig,  12,929^;  McAuliff, 
11,9571^;  Moulding,  226^;  Naegley,  514;  Arnold,  213.  Seventh 
district,  Humphrey,  11,632^;  Struckman,  10,469^;  Crafts, 
9.672;  Kreuger,  4,678^;  Nowlen,  1,548;  Starkweather,  21; 
Connelly,  9.  Ninth  district,  Scharlau,  7,709  ;  Baird,  7,408^  ; 
Considine,  6,618  ;  Wendell,  5,225  ;  Phelps,  2,787^  ;  Whelan, 
977;  Pike,  132.  Eleventh  district,  Oldenberg,  10,114;  O'Shay, 
7,639;  Schlessinger,  6,933  ;  Meyers,  5,994;  Scarry,  4,740;  Wood- 
son, 1,645.    Thirteenth  district,    Brachtendorf,   5,912^  ;  Sundel- 


*A  complete  list  of  Senators  and  Representatives  elected  in  Cook  county  districts  since 
the  organization  of  the  General  Assembly  will  be  found  at  the  close  of  this  volume. 

f The  vote  as  canvassed  was  reversed,  Brand's  apparent  plurality  being  fraudulent,  Gov. 
ernor  Hamilton  issued  the  certificate  of  election  to  Leman. 


324  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

ius,  5,7361^;  Mulheran,  5,230^;  Klupp,  5,174;  Prendergast, 
2,447;   Dahnke,  1,606;  Vogel,  93. 

For  the  State  House  appropriation,  22,331. 

For  separate  item  veto,  109,119. 

For  issue  of  county  bonds,  109,810. 

For  police  appropriation,  64,802. 

At  the  general  election,  November  4,  1884,  a  vote  was  taken 
in  the  city  on  the  proposition  to  authorize  the  Council  to  appro- 
priate $100,000  from  the  saloon  license  fund  for  the  purpose  of 
increasing  the  police  force.  The  proposition  was  carried  by  a 
vote  of  64,802  out  of  a  total  of  100,978  votes.  It  was  charged 
by  several  newspapers  that  this  appropriation  was  illegally  carried 
by  means  of  the  many  frauds  entering  into  the  election  ;  243 
Judges  were  arrested,  charged  with  making  false  returns,  but  all 
escaped  punishment  by  pleading  ignorance  of  the  law. 

A  few  days  after  the  general  election  of  November,  1884,  it 
became  generally  known  that  the  two  Houses  of  the  Assembly  in 
joint  session  would  probably  be  a  tie,  as  between  the  Democrats 
and  the  Republicans,  so  that  a  r.ingle  vote,  either  in  the  House  or 
Senate  might  electa  United  States  Senator.  It  has  been  charged 
that  this  situation  brought  about  the  famous  Brand- Leman  fraud 
in  the  Eighteenth  ward  of  Chicago.  The  intense  excitement 
attending  the  Democratic  National  victory  had  not  yet  entirely 
subsided  when  it  was  discovered  and  charged  by  the  press  that 
the  ballots  of  the  Second  precinct  of  the  Eighteenth  ward  had 
been  tampered  with,  and  the  result  in  the  precinct  reversed,  so 
as  to  give  a  fraudulent  majority  for  State  senator  to  Rudolf 
Brand,  Democrat,  as  against  Henry  W.  Leman,  Republican.  In 
justice  to  Mr.  Brand  it  is  necessary  to  say  that  there  never  has 
been  the  slightest  suspicion  that  he  was  in  any  way  cognizant  of 
this  fraud.  Before  even  the  magnitude  of  the  fraud  was  known, 
Mr.  Brand  announced  that  he  would  not  accept  an  election  that 
was  in  doubt,  and  demanded  a  re-count.  The  excitement  and 
indignation  ran  high,  and  a  citizen's  committee  of  safety  was 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  down  and  bringing  to  justice 
the  miscreants  who  had  perpetrated  the  frauds.  The  leaders  of 
this  movement  were  E.  Nelson  Blake,  A.  A.  Carpenter,  Melville 

E.  Stone,  Gen.  I.  N.  Stiles,  Edwin    Lee   Brown,  A.  M.  Day,  E. 

F.  Cragin,  Erskine  M.  Phelps,  M.  W.  Fuller  and  many  other 
prominent  representatives  of  both  political  parties.  A.  M.  Day 
was  made  chairman  of  the  committee. 

Examination  of  the  ballot  box  of  the  Second  precinct  of  the 
Eighteenth  ward  showed  that  after  it  had  been  placed  in  the  cus- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  325 

tody  of  the  County  Clerk  and  was  in  the  vault  of  his  office  the 
original  ballots  had  been  abstracted  and  a  number  of  bogus  or 
forged  ballots,  printed  as  facsimiles  of  the  genuine  ones,  with  the 
exception  that  they  contained  Brand's  name  instead  of  Leman's, 
had  been  substituted.  The  apparent  motive  for  the  crime  lay  in 
the  fact  that  the  General  Assembly  elect  was  to  ballot  for  a  United 
States  Senator,  and  a  careful  canvass  of  the  state  had  shown 
that  the  Senate  and  House  were  apt  to  be  a  tie  between  the  two 
parties.  To  more  completely  carry  out  the  fraud  the  entire  tally 
sheet  accompanying  the  ballots  had  been  forged  so  as  to  corres- 
pond, and  clever  counterfeits  of  the  signatures  of  the  Judges  and 
Clerks  of  election  were  afhxed.  The  Committee  of  Safety 
and  Federal  authorities  co-operating,  arrested  the  Judges  and 
Clerks,  except  one,  Sullivan,  who  decamped  to  Canada.  An  en- 
terprising reporter  of  the  Daily  News  discovered  where  the 
bogus  tickets  had  been  printed,  at  P.  L.  Hanscom's  printing 
office  on  Madison  street,  and  secured  a  proof-slip  of  the  bogus 
ticket  containing  Brand's  name.  The  Wright  brothers,  employes 
of  Hanscom,  stated  that  Joseph  C.  Mackin,  Secretary  of  the  Cook 
County  Central  Democratic  Committee,  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  State  Central  Committee,  and  Secretary  of  the  Cook  County 
Democratic  Club,  had  ordered  the  tickets  printed,  and  they  had 
been  delivered  to  him  at  his  room  in  the  Palmer  house. 
Joseph  C.  Mackin,  William  J.  Gallagher,  a  saloon  keeper,  and 
Arthur  Gleason,  a  clerk  in  the  County  Clerk's  office,  were 
indicted  by  the  Federal  Grand  Jury  for  this  offence  on  several 
counts,  Mackin  for  conspiracy,  Gallagher  for  forging  the  tally- 
sheet,  and  Gleason  for  having,  as  charged,  connived  at  the 
substitution  of  the  fraudulent  ballots  while  the  genuine  were 
in  his  custody.  This  indictment  was  subsequently  dropped,  and 
the  trio  were  proceeded  against  by  information,  A.  M.  Day 
being  the  complainant.  The  trial  was  a  sensational  one  and 
resulted  in  the  conviction  of  the  defendants,  and  the  indict- 
ment for  perjury  in  their  behalf,  of  Charles  Emery  Gilmore 
and  Jeremiah  Sullivan.  The  prosecution  was  conducted  before 
Judge  Henry  W.  Blodgett,  by  District  Attorney  R.  S.  Tut- 
hill,  Gen.  I.  N.  Stiles  and  Gen.  J.  C.  Hawley,  and  the  defense 
by  Judge  Turpie  of  Indiana,  and  Frank  Turner  for  Mackin; 
Henry  Wendell  Thompson  for  Gallagher,  Swett  &  Gros- 
cup,  and  W.  S.  Young  for  Gleason.  An  appeal  was  taken  by 
the  defendants  on  a  petition  for  a  writ  of  error,  which  was 
argued  in  their  behalf  before  Justice  Harlan  and  Judge  W.  Q. 
Gresham,   by  Emery   A.    Storrs  ;    the  writ  granted  and  the  case 


326  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

certified  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  the  defendants 
Mackin  and  Gallagher  being  held  in  bonds  of  $50,000,  and 
Gleason  in  bonds  of  $10,000.  In  the  meantime  a  special  grand 
jury  had  been  impaneled  in  the  Criminal  Court  of  Cook  county,  be- 
fore which  Mackin  was  summoned.  He  refused  to  answer  certain 
questions  on  the  ground  that  he  might  incriminate  himself,  but 
denied  having  procured  the  spurious  tickets  from  Hanscom 
&  Co.  The  jury  thereupon  indicted  him  for  perjury  ;  he  was  con- 
victed and  sentenced  to  serve  a  sentence  of  five  years  in  Joliet. 
The  Supreme  Court  was  applied  to  for  a  writ  of  supersedeas 
pending  an  appeal  to  the  State  Supreme  Court,  and  the  super- 
sedeas was  granted  by  Justices  Shope  and  Craig,  Before  the 
Supreme  Court  the  case  was  argued  by  Emery  Storrs  and  John 
C.  Richberg,  and  the  sentence  of  the  Criminal  Court  was  sus- 
tained. This  was  the  last  argument  of  the  gifted  and  brilliant 
Emery  Storrs,  who  died  at  Ottawa  immediately  after  its  close. 
The  appeal  from  the  conviction  in  the  Federal  Court  has  not  yet 
been  decided  at  the  date  of  this  writing.  Mackin  was  taken  to 
Joliet  to  serve  the  Criminal  Court  sentence,  and  Gallagher  and 
Gleason  remained  at  large  on  bail. 

The  detectives  employed  by  the  Committee  of  Safety  un- 
earthed many  minor  frauds,  but  the  only  arrests  made  in  connec- 
tion with  any  of  these  were  those  of  William  J.  Clingen,  Clerk 
of  the  Armory  Police  Court,  Frank  E.  Owens  and  John  Stearns, 
city  employes,  who  were  charged  with  the  illegal  registration  of 
voters  in  the  First  and  Second  wards.  They  were  brought  to 
trial  in  the  Federal  court,  the  jury  disagreed,  and  on  the  second 
trial  the  case  was  dismissed  for  lack  of  evidence. 

The  anticipated  contest  over  the  election  of  a  United 
States  Senator  to  succeed  John  A.  Logan  began  with  the  elec- 
tion of  members  of  the  General  Assembly  in  the  fall  campaign,  as 
has  been  shown,  and  when  the  two  Houses  assembled  at  Spring- 
field in  January,  1885,  every  other  matter  of  business  was  su- 
bordinated to  this  issue.  William  R.  Morrison,  an  avowed  Free 
Trade  apostle  and.leader  in  Congress,  who  was  a  rival  to  Carter 
Harrison  for  the  nomination  for  Governor,  in  the  preceding 
July,  was  made  the  Democratic  caucus  nominee  for  Senator, 
and  John  A.  Logan  received  the  caucus  nomination  of  the  Re- 
publicans. Other  prominent  candidates  were,  Carter  H.  Harri- 
son, Judge  Lambert  Tree  and  W.  C.  Goudy,  on  the  Democratic 
side,  and  C.  B.  Farwell  on  the  Republican  side.  Neither  Logan 
or  Morrison,  the  rival  caucus  candidates,  represented  a  moneyed 
interest,  and  both  were  made  to  appreciate  that  the  corporation 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  327 

influence,  usually  so  potent  in  choosing  United  States  Senators, 
was  against  them.  Both  also  had  to  deal  with  some  uncertain 
elements  in  their  own  party.  But  here  the  parallel  ended. 
Morrison  was  still  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
was  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  and  had  the 
backing  of  the  Carlisle  wing  of  the  Democracy,  whose  support 
meant  a  political  future,  whether  he  captured  the  Senatorship  or 
not.  Logan's  term  in  the  Senate  was  drawing  to  a  close.  As 
one  of  the  defeated  candidates  on  the  Republican  National 
ticket,  he  had  been  put  forward  by  his  party  in  Illinois  to  show 
its  confidence  in  his  leadership  as  well  in  defeat  as  in  victory. 

The  first  test  of  strength  between  Logan  and  Morrison  in 
the  joint  convention  was  had  February  19.  That  day  both  parties 
had  their  full  strength  present — 102  to  102.  In  the  balloting 
Gen.  Logan  received  100  votes  and  Morrison  94.  Represent- 
atives Sittig  and  MacMillan  voted  for  E.  B.  Washburne  and 
Andrew  Shuman  respectively,  while  the  Democratic  members 
who  refused  to  go  on  record  for  Morrison  scattered.  Afterward 
MacMillan  voted  for  Logan  on  several  ballots,  and  Morrison 
began  to  whip  the  Cook  county  Democrats  into  line,  so  that  his 
vote  ran  up  to  99.  Besides  the  Cook  county  members  he  had 
much  trouble  with  Speaker  Haines  and  Senator  Streeter,  both 
of  whom  had  their  own  lightning  rods  up,  and  when  either 
of  them  voted  for  Morrison,  it  was  certain  the  circumstances 
were  such  that  he  could  not  be  elected.  Matters  ran  along  this 
way  for  a  week,  and  then  death  broke  the  tie.  February  26  Repre- 
sentative Robert  E.  Logan,  of  the  Nineteenth  district,  dropped 
dead  at  the  entrance  to  the  House  chamber.  He  had  toiled  up 
the  stairs,  and  as  he  was  suffering  from  heart  disease,  the  effort 
had  proved  fatal  to  him.  This  was  Thursday,  and  a  truce  was 
arranged  till  the  following  Tuesday.  Representative  Logan  was 
one  of  the  Republican  members,  and  his  death  left  that  party  in 
the  minority.  Though  the  Governor  immediately  issued  the 
writs  for  a  special  election,  it  would  be  nearly  four  weeks  before 
a  successor  could  qualify,  and  the  only  thing  for  the  Republicans 
to  do  was  to  keep  from  voting  till  their  ranks  were  again  full. 
Many,  however,  believed  that  a  Democratic  Senator  would  be 
elected  before  a  successor  to  the  deceased  member  could  be 
chosen.  But  it  was  not  written  in  the  book  of  fate  that  102 
Democratic  members  of  the  Thirty-fourth  General  Assembly 
should  ever  again  vote  in  joint  convention.  Senator  Frank  M. 
Bridges  of  the  Thirty-seventh  district  was  a  broken-down  man 
when   he   came   to  the   Legislature.      He  had   had  one  or  two 


328  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

strokes  of  paralysis,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  took  part 
in  the  convention  long  enough  to  vote  for  Morrison.  Imme- 
diately after  Representative  Logan's  death  Senator  Bridges  was 
taken  to  his  home  in  Carrollton  by  his  family,  where  he  died. 

April  12  Representative  Shaw,  a  Democrat,  died.  Senator 
Logan's  managers  went  quietly  to  work  and  laid  plans  to  carry 
Shaw's  district.  The  special  election  had  been  set  for  Wednes- 
day, May  6.  That  day  a  few  hundred  Democrats  went  unsus- 
pectingly to  the  polls  and  voted  for  Mr.  Leeper,  their  candidate. 
Some  Republicans,  out  of  personal  regard  for  him,  did  the  same 
in  the  early  hours  of  the  day,  before  they  could  be  informed  of 
what  was  to  come.  Between  3  and  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
the  Republican  voters  all  over  the  district  began  flocking  to  the 
polls  and  voting  for  W.  H.  Weaver  of  Menard  county.  The 
Democrats  were  panic  stricken  at  this  move,  and  made  frantic 
efforts  to  get  out  their  votes.  But  they  were  too  late.  Capt. 
Weaver  carried  every  county  except  Cass,  and  his  majority  was 
over  300.  The  following  day  Democrats  throughout  the  coun- 
try were  shocked  and  Republicans  delighted  to  learn  that  a  Re- 
publican member  had  been  elected  in  a  district  which  had  given 
2,000  Democratic  majority  in  the  Presidential  election. 

After  receiving  for  two  votes  the  entire  strength  of  his 
party,  101,  William  R.  Morrison's  name  was  withdrawn  on  May 
14,  and  Hon.  Lambert  Tree  of  Chicago,  received  most  of  the 
party  strength.  Finally  on  May  19,  after  the  successors  of  all 
the  deceased  members  had  been  seated,  the  120th  and  final  joint 
ballet  was  taken,  and  Senator  Logan  was  re-elected  to  succeed 
himself  for  six  years,  ending  March  4,  1891.  The  vote  was  as 
follows  : 

Senate — John  A.  Logan,  26 ;  Lambert  Tree,  24 ;  J.  C. 
Black,  1. 

House — Logan,  77;  Tree,  72;  Black,  1;  Hoxie,  1;  Schol- 
field,  1. 

The  "  Logan  103  "  became  noted  throughout  the  country  for 
their  staying  qualities,  and  almost  as  famous  as  the  Grant  "  306  " 
of  1880. 

There  were  a  greater  number  of  prospective  Mayoralty 
candidates  in  Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1885  than  ever  before 
known  in  the  history  of  the  city.  The  campaign  practically 
opened  early  in  March,  and  it  was  not  known  at  this  date  wheth- 
er Carter  H.  Harrison  would  be  a  candidate  for  re-election  or 
not.  One  of  the  leading  issues  was  "election  reform,"  for  the 
prevalence    of   election    frauds   in    the  fall  preceding  had  led  to 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  329 

unusual  precautions  on  the  part  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  and  the  press  to  secure  a  fair  election.  The  leading-  jour- 
nals printed  the  registry  lists  in  full,  and  showed  where  illegal 
registration  had  been  carried  on  to  a  large  extent.  This  had  the 
effect  of  preventing  frauds  somewhat,  but  in  several  precincts  the 
scheme  of  swearing  in  votes  by  affidavit  and  destroying  the  affi- 
davits subsequently,  was  resorted  to.  The  Republicans  had  three 
leading  candidates  shortly  prior  to  the  holding  of  their  conven- 
tion— George  R.  Davis,  ex-Congressman  from  the  Third  district, 
Frank  M.  Blair,  a  prominent  business  man,  resident  of  the  North 
Division,  who  had  been  Chairman  of  the  City  Finance  Com- 
mittee under  a  strong  Democratic  administration,  and  who  pos- 
sessed an  enviable  record;  and  Sidney  Smith,  Judge  ©f  the  Su- 
perior Court,  a  man  of  sterling  qualities.  The  last  named  was 
taken  up  as  a  compromise  candidate,  in  an  effort  to  harmonize 
every  Republican  element,  and  it  was  believed,  as  well,  that 
he  would  secure  a  large  floating  vote  that  had  become  hostile  to 
Mayor  Harrison.  Judge  Smith  was  nominated  by  acclamation  ; 
John  F.  Finerty  was  nominated  for  Treasurer;  C.  H.  Plautz 
for  City  Clerk,  and  Hempstead  Washburne  for  City  Attorney. 
The  Democratic  city  convention  was  held  in  the  Palmer 
house,  March  24,  and  Carter  H.  Harrison  was  nominated  by 
acclamation  for  re-election  ;  William  M.  Devine  for  Treasurer, 
John  G.  Neumeister  for  City  Clerk,  and  Peter  J.  Ellert  for  City 
Attorney.  The  result  of  the  vote  on  the  city  ticket  as  finally 
canvassed  by  the  Council  June  1,  1885,  was  as  follows  : 

MAYOR. 

Carter  H.  Harrison,  Dem.,  -  43>352 

Sidney  Smith,  Rep., 42,977 

TREASURER. 

W.   M.   Devine,   Dem.,         ....         43,418 
John  F.   Finerty,  Rep.,         ....         41,877 

CITY     CLERK. 

John  G.   Neumeister,  Dem.,         ...         42,926 
C.   H.   Plautz,  Rep.,    -----         43,116 

CITY    ATTORNEY. 

Peter  J.   Ellert,   Dem.,         -  4J»973 

Hempstead  Washburne,  Rep.,       -         -         •         43»959 
The  Prohibitionists  had  a  city  ticket  in  the  field  at  this  elec- 
tion, which  received  for  Mayor,  Bush,  221  votes;  City  Treasurer, 
Speight,  261   votes  ;  City  Clerk,    Catlin,    249  ;    City    Attorney, 
Christian,  290.     Harrison's  plurality,  375. 


330  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ALDERMEN. 

First  ward — Arthur  Dixon,  Rep.,  1,602  ;  Patrick  White, 
Dem.,  1,307. 

Second  ward — James  Appleton,  Dem.,  2,076 ;  M.  Best, 
Rep.,  1,008  ;  M.  A.  Driscoll,  Ind.  Dem.,  692. 

Third  ward — Chas.  W.  Drew,  Rep.,  1,211  ;  Simon  Fish, 
Rep.,  661  ;  Frank  H.  Follansbee,  Ind.  Rep.,  654;  Isaac  Pieser, 
Dem.,  159;  Thomas  Healy,  Dem.,  533. 

Fourth  ward — O.  D.  Wetherell,  Rep.,  3,339;  Frank  Myers, 
Dem,  2,423;  Geo.  Brahm,  57;   P.  Dunn,  28. 

Fifth  ward — H.  F.  Sheridan,  Dem.,  4,858  ;  John  J.  Kearns, 
Rep.,  2,942. 

Sixth  ward — George  W.  Kroll,  Rep.,  1,139  ;  C.  F.  L. 
Doerner,  Dem.,  1,524;  Charles  A.  Monear,  Ind.  Dem.,  1,434; 
Wenzel  Kasperek,  Ind.,  1,286. 

Seventh  ward — John  Riordan,  Dem..  1,884;  Thomas  J. 
Carroll,  Ind.  Dem.,  774;  Charles  B.  Brady,  Ind.,  800;  Joseph 
M.  Weber,  Rep..  2,051. 

Eighth  ward — Redmond  Sheridan,  Jr.,  Dem.,  2,919;  Thos. 
Purcell,  1,596;   L.  Yore,  Rep.,  1,674. 

Ninth  ward — W.  F.  Mahony,  Dem.,  2,263  >  Jonn  W.  Carter, 
Rep.,  1,405. 

Tenth  ward — James  Walsh,   Dem.,    1,013;    S.    P.    Revere, 

Rep.,  i,355- 

Eleventh  ward— D.  M.  Kirton,  Dem.,  1,391;  Samuel  Simons, 
Rep.,  3,084;  A.  Hunting,  21. 

Twelfth  ward — Walter  S.  Hull,  Rep.,  3,553  ;  A.  L.  Sweet, 
Ind.,  2,887;  J-  L-  Whitlock,  312. 

Thirteenth  ward — John  W.  Lyke,  Rep.,  2,187;  Michael 
Hayes,  Dem.,  1,816  ;  J.  M.  Ingraham,  35. 

Fourteenth  ward — Frank  Schack,  Rep.,  2,800;  W.  Jacobs, 
Dem.,  1,745;  J.  Bavznister,  Socialist,  2,618. 

Fifteenth  ward — William  Eisfeldt,  Jr.,  Rep.,  3,022  ;  James 
M.  Quinn,  Dem.,  1,927. 

Sixteenth  ward — Henry  Severin,  Rep.,  205  ;  Fred  Heinberg, 
Dem.,  1,397. 

Seventeenth  ward — E.  P.  Barrett,  Dem.,  1,656  ;  John  A. 
Linn,  Rep  ,  1,806. 

Eighteenth  ward — William  Manierre,  Dem.,  2,562  ;  Fred 
Greisheimer,  Dem.,  1,738;  A.  J.  Calder,  Rep.,  1,092. 

It  having  been  charged  by  certain  newspapers  prior  to  the 
canvass  of  the  returns  that  a  number  of  the  ballot  boxes,  together 
with  the  ballots  used  at  the  city  election,  had  not  been  delivered 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  33  I 

into  the  custody  of  the  City  Clerk,  the  Council  on  April  13  ap- 
pointed a  committee  composed  of  Aids.  Noyes,  Hull  and  Dixon, 
two  Republicans  and  one  Democrat,  to  investigate  the  matter. 
The  committee  after  full  investigation  reported  that  boxes  suffi- 
cient in  number  to  correspond  with  all  of  the  precincts,  and  pur-' 
porting  to  contain  the  proper  ballots,  were  in  the  City  Clerk's 
vault,  but  that  many  of  the  boxes  were  without  numbers,  improp- 
erly sealed,  and  generally  in  an  insecure  condition.  At  the  same 
meeting  of  the  Council  resolutions  were  offered  by  Aid.  Cullerton 
denouncing  the  statements  of  a  "partisan  press"  in  reference  to 
the  late  election,  and  pledging  the  Council  to  a  fair,  honest,  and 
careful  canvass  of  the  returns,  and  by  Aid.  Ryan,  directing  the 
Mayor  and  Chief  of  Police  to  use  every  effort  within  their  power 
to  bring  to  justice  persons  guilty  of  fraud,  intimidation,  or  other 
offense  against  an  honest,  free  and  fair  election.  Both  resolu- 
tions were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Elections.  The  latter 
committee  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council  recommended  the 
passage  of  the  resolutions,  together  with  an  ordinance  authoriz- 
ing the  Mayor  to  draw  upon  the  contingent  fund  for  the  purpose 
of  procuring  funds  to  assist  an  investigation  of  the  facts,  and  of 
bringing  the  perpetrators  of  such  frauds  to  justice. 

The  ballot  box  containing  the  ballots  cast  in  the*  Third  pre- 
cinct of  the  Third  ward  was  stolen  from  the  office  of  Howland's 
livery  stable  on  Twenty-second  street,  at  night,  after  the  judges 
had  finished  their  count  of  the  returns.  The  only  arrests  made 
by  the  police  were  in  connection  with  this  affair.  "Dutchy" 
O'Keefe  was  finally  convicted  of  participation  in  this  bold  effort 
to  thwart  the  voting  franchise  of  the  people,  and  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  a  term  of  five  years  in  the  penitentiary  at  Joliet. 

The  Judges  of  this  precinct,  Isaac  Howland,  Dr.  Quinlan 
and  George  Todd,  having  preserved  an  abstract  of  the  returns, 
forwarded  the  same  to  the  Council.  The  Democratic  majority 
in  the  Council  refused  to  receive,  these  returns,  and  by  a  vote  of 
17  to  13  passed  an  order  requesting  of  the  Corporation  Counsel 
an  opinion  as  to  what  constituted  legal  returns. 

April  23  the  Council  took  action  in  reference  to  the  election 
troubles,  passing  a  resolution  by  a  vote  of  19  to  10  directing  the 
Mayor  and  Chief  of  Police  to  use  every  effort  within  their  power 
to  arrest  and  bring  to  justice  any  and  all  persons  guilty  of  fraud, 
intimidation  or  any  other  offense  against  an  honest,  free  and  fair 
election,  and  an  honest  and  correct  count  of  the  votes  cast  by 
citizens  at  the  late  election.  The  following  resolutions  were 
adopted  by  a  party  vote,  of  eighteen  Democrats  in  the  affirma- 
tive, and  ten  Republicans  in  the  negative. 


332  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Whereas,  The  city  is  at  present  in  a  state  of  alarm  and 
excitement  over  the  result  of  the  recent  election,  produced  by 
the  utterances  of  certain  partisan  newspapers,  and  rash  million- 
aires, who  have  been  disappointed  by  the  defeat  of  their  candi- 
dates at  the  polls,  and 

Whereas,  In  their  wild  and  inconsiderate  statements,  the 
fair  name  of  the  city  has  been  traduced  and  vilified,  and  the 
impression  has  been  spread  abroad  that  Chicago  is  not  only  a 
sinkhole  of  iniquity  and  corruption,  but  infested  with  thieves, 
bummers  and  ballot-box  stuffers  and  disreputable  characters  gen- 
erally, and 

Whereas,  A  great  many  people  of  intelligence  and  general 
information  have  come  to  regard  these  libels  through  repeated 
utterances  of  them,  as  a  correct  representation  of  the  true  condi- 
tion of  affairs  in  Chicago,  and 

Whereas,  The  tendency  of  all  these  misrepresentations  has 
been,  not  only  to  injure  the  fair  credit  and  standing  of  the  city, 
but  drive  away  trade  that  has  its  natural  market  here,  therefore 
be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Council  hereby  most  vehemently 
denounce  such  utterances,  and  characterize  them  as  malicious 
and  unfounded,  pure  fiction  of  disgruntled  and  disappointed 
office-seekers  and  partisan  fanatics,  and  challenge  the  proof  to 
show  that  Chicago  is  not  as  orderly,  peaceable  and  law-abiding  as 
any  city  in  the  country.  We  can  most  confidently  and  truthfully 
assure  people  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  that  not  only  are  the 
lives  and  property  of  our  citizens  perfectly  secure  and  safe,  but 
also  that  our  city  is  less  infested  with  crime  and  lawlessness  than 
any  city  in  the  United  States  in  proportion  to  its  population. 
Statistics  show  that  never  in  the  history  of  Chicago,  was  there 
less  pauperism,  a  less  number  of  the  vicious  class,  and  a  less  domi- 
nancy  of  crime  and  disorder  than  at  present.  The  contrary 
exists  only  on  paper,  in  the  partisan  journals  of  the  city  and 
among  wild  orators,  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  election  which  these  defamers  of  the  city 
declare  was  carried  by  fraud,  was  one  of  the  most  quiet  and 
orderly  ones  ever  held  in  Chicago,  and*  that  when  a  calm  and 
sober  second  thought  succeeds  the  passions  of  disappointed  parti- 
sans, this  fact  will  be  apprehended*  and  conceded  ;  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  which  result  this  Council  hereby  pledges  itself  by 
a  fair,  honest,  and  careful  canvass  of  the  returns  of  the  recent 
election. 

A  contest  grew  out  of  the  Aldermanic  election  in   the  Sixth 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  7>33 

ward,  between  Charles  F.  L.  Doerner  and  Charles  A.  Monear, 
and  the  Council,  owing  to  the  delay  in  the  canvass  of  the  general 
returns  arising  from  the  uncertainty  attending  the  legal  status  of 
the  returns  of  the  Third  precinct  of  the  Third  ward,  neglected 
to  accord  Monear  a  recount  until  threatened  with  mandamus 
and  contempt  proceedings  by  Judge  Anthony.  The  election 
committee  did  not  finally  report  the  outcome  of  the  recount  to 
the  Council  until  October  19,  1885,  when  they  reported  as  the 
result  of  the  recount  that  Aid.  Doerner  had  received  1,519  votes; 
Monear  1,446,  a  majority  of  73  votes  in  favor  of  Doerner. 
Wenzel  Kasparek,  another  aldermanic  candidate  in  the  Sixth  ward 
subsequently  brought  contest  proceedings  against  Aid.  Doerner, 
which  were  finally  dropped  for  lack  of  prosecution. 

April  30  the  Council  by  a  vote  of  19  to  15  amended  the 
ordinance  authorizing  the  Mayor  to  draw  upon  the  contingent 
fund  for  the  expenses  of  the  election  contest,  by  authorizing  him 
to  employ  necessary  clerks  and  experts,  and  to  pay  all  expenses 
out  of  the  secret  service  and  contingent  funds. 

It  having  been  charged  that  John  G.  Neumeister,  the  Dem- 
ocratic City  Clerk,  desired  to  hold  on  to  the  office  and  intended 
to  contest  the  election  of  C.  H.  Plautz,  his  Republican  opponent, 
on  June  1,  1885,  he  sent  the  following  communication  to  the 
Council. 

To  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  Chicago  in 
Council  Assembled  : 

Gentlemen, — For  some  time  I  have  rested  supine  under  the 
accusation  that  I  desired  to  retain  an  office  to  which  I  was  not 
elected,  and  that  the  delays  to  declare  the  result  of  the  election 
were  due  to  my  craft  and  intrigue.  This  I  deny,  and  in  this  con- 
nection state,  that  as  I  was  not  elected  by  a  majority  of  the  votes 
cast,  I  will  not  rest  my  claims  thereto  on  a  technicality. 

The  Democratic  party  to  which  I  owe  allegiance,  demands 
that  the  Third  precinct  of  the  Third  ward  shall  be  counted  with- 
out further  delay.  To  this  let  me  add  my  own  earnest  request 
that  this  and  all  the  returns  be  counted,  and  the  result  declared. 
Very  truly  yours,    John  G.  Neumeister,  City  Clerk. 

The  legal  authorities  consulted  in  reference  to  the  Third 
ward  returns  declared  that  judges  of  election  were  allowed  by 
law  to  correct  errors  in  their  returns  ;  that  the  returns  certified 
by  the  Judges  as  the  returns  must  be  accepted  as  such  by  the 
Council  in  its  canvass  of  the  returns. 

The  annual  ordinance  providing  for  a  tax  levy  covering  the 
appropriation  bill,  as  passed   March  27,   directed  a  tax  levy  of 


334  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

$5,152,366.03   for  the  fiscal  year  January  1,   1885,  to  December 
31,  1885. 

A  contest  of  the  Mayoralty  election  between  Smith  and 
Harrison,  owing  to  the  closeness  of  the  vote,  appeared  inevitable, 
and  it  was  speedily  entered  upon  by  the  filing  of  an  information 
in  court  by  A.  A.  Carpenter.  Mr.  Smith  was  represented  by 
John  N.  Jewett  and  A.  W.  Green,  and  these  gentlemen  also 
represented  the  Republican  City  Central  Committee,  while  A. 
C.  Story  looked  after  Mayor  Harrison's  interests.  The  contest 
was  an  exciting  one,  made  doubly  so  by  sensational  reports  in 
the  newspapers  chronicling  phenomenal  gains  first  for  one  can- 
didate and  then  the  other,  the  narrow  majority  given  Mayor 
Harrison  on  the  face  of  the  returns  being  apparently  wiped  out 
at  times,  if  the  ratio  of  gains  for  Judge  Smith  could  be  made  to 
continue  through  all  the  wards.  The  proceedings  finally  settled 
into  a  dogged  and  expensive  routine,  and  dragged  along  until 
January,  1886,  with  a  final  result  of  a  gain  for  Judge  Smith  of  less 
than  50  votes  in  all  of  the  precincts  of  the  city.  The  contest 
was  in  charge  of  commissioners,  appointed  by  Judge  Richard 
Prendergast  of  the  County  Court,  who  attended  to  the  settle- 
ment of  legal  questions  arising.  Toward  the  close  of  the  contest, 
when  the  plaintiffs  were  about  to  depart  from  the  face  of  the 
returns  and  attempt  to  prove  up  certain  alleged  fraudulent  votes, 
Judge  Prendergast  made  a  ruling  which  made  it  obligatory  upon 
the  contestants  to  prove  up  each  fraudulent  vote  seriatim  if  they 
wished  to  pursue  the  contest  beyond  the  face  of  the  returns. 
Judge  Smith's  friends  thereupon  abandoned  the  contest,  and  the 
suit  was  dismissed.  Two  days  before  the  attorneys  for  the  con- 
testants made  known  their  decision  to  drop  the  contest  Judge 
Smith  sent  them  the  following  letter: 

Chicago,  Dec.  30, — A.  W.  Green,  Esq.,  Dear  Sir: — In  rela- 
tion to  the  election  contest  of  Carpenter  and  others  vs.  Harrison 
I  desire  to  say  that  developments  in  its  progress  up  to  this  time 
convince  me  that  there  is  no  reasonable  probability  of  .reaching 
any  final  termination  of  the  litigation  before  the  expiration  of 
the  term  of  office. 

I  have  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  and  to  that  I  intend  to 
devote  my  entire  time  and  attention,  unembarrassed  by  any  im- 
plied understanding  that  I  should  in  any  event  consent  to  accept 
a  mere  remnant  of  the  term  of  the  Mayoralty.  I  say  this  much 
in  justice  to  myself  personally. 

Truly  yours,        Sidney  Smith. 

The  constant  repetition  of  frauds  at  the  polls  brought  about 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  7>3S 

a  non-partisan  movement  in  favor  of  a  new  election  law,  that 
would  have  the  effect  of  repressing  and  preventing  these  boldly 
perpetrated  and  easily  accomplished  frauds.  The  leaders  in  this 
movement  were  Marshall  Field,  A.  A.  Carpenter,  M.  E.  Stone, 
I.  N.  Stiles,  S.  Corning  Judd,  A.  F.  Seeberger,  John  A.  King 
and  others.  A  bill  known  as  the  ''Citizens'  Election  Bill  "  was 
drafted,  submitted  to  the  Legislature,  and  passed.  There  was 
some  doubt  about  the  constitutionality  of  the  measure  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  should  be  submitted  to  the  voters  for  adop- 
tion, and  in  the  movement  to  have  it  submitted  to  the  voters  at 
the  fall  election  in  November,  1885,  for  County  Commissioners 
and  Supreme  and  Superior  Court  Judges  pending  a  decision  by 
the  Supreme  Court  as  to  its  constitutionality,  representative  citi- 
zens and  leading  members  of  the  bar,  without  reference  to  party 
convictions,  united  in  petitioning  Judge  Prendergast  to  issue  an 
order  directing  the  County  Clerk  to  submit  the  law  at  the  county 
and  judicial  election.  The  order  was  issued,  the  law  submitted, 
and  it  received  a  majority  in  every  ward  in  the  city,  the  total 
vote  in  the  city  being  31,984  for  the  law,  and  14,557  against  it. 
It  was  also  adopted  by  the  voters  of  the  Town  of  Lake.  After 
its  adoption  Judge  Prendergast  appointed  Francis  Hoffman,  Jr., 
Daniel  Corkery  and  Samuel  B.  Raymond  Election  .Commission- 
ers, and  these  gentlemen,  in  compliance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
law,  engaged  a  clerical  force,  redistricted  the  city  into  precincts 
containing  not  over  300  voters  each  ;  located  new  polling  places 
and  selected  lists  of  judges,  preparatory  to  the  town  and  alder- 
manic  elections  of  1886.  The  question  of  the  constitutionality  of 
the  law  was  argued  before  the  State  Supreme  Court  by  Messrs. 
John  N.  Jewett,  Jas.  W.  Beach  and  A.  M.  Pence  in  the  affirma- 
tive and  opposed  by  A.  C.  Story,  Adolf  Moses,  F.  S.  Winston, 
Jr.,  and  Frank  Hurd,  and  its  constitutionality  was  affirmed  Jan- 
uary 19,  1886. 

During  1884-5  Mayor  Harrison  made  appointments  as  fol- 
lows :  Inspectors  House  of  Correction,  E.  S.  Albro,  E.  W. 
Blatchford  ;  Members  of  the  Board  of  Education,  Rudolf  Brand, 
Thomas  Brennan,  John  M.  Clark,  Frank  H.  Collier,  Daniel  M. 
Corkery,  Adolph  Kraus  ;  Directors  of  the  Public  Library,  W.  J. 
Hynes,  Thomas  C.  McMillan,  Arthur  Swazey,  William  H. 
Wells;  City  Attorney,  Clarence  A.  Knight  vice  Julius  S.  Grin- 
nell,  resigned  ;  General  Superintendent  of  Police,  Frederick 
Ebersold  vice  Austin  J.  Doyle,  resigned. 

Mayor  Harrison's  initiatory  message  to  the  new  Council  of 
1885,  delivered  July  13,  is  as  follows: 


336  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

To  the  Honorable,  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of 
Chicago: — Gentlemen, — In  completing  my  third  and  entering 
upon  my  fourth  term  as  Mayor,  it  affords  me  pleasure  to  convey 
to  you   assurances  of   the  continued  prosperity,  excellent  credit, 
and  high  standing  of   the  municipality.      It  goes  almost  without 
saying" that  never  in   the  history  of    Chicago  has  its  administra- 
tion been  as  fiercely  assailed  by  partisan  newspapers  and  politicians 
as  during  the  past  few  months,  but  fortunately  the  motives   of 
these  attacks  have  been  divined  by  the  thinking  masses  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  effect  has  been  to  only  temporarily  injure  the 
fair  name  of  our  city.     The  shafts,  pointed  and  poisoned  by  sel- 
fish interests,  fell  harmless  at  the  feet    of   a  party  conscious  of 
rio-ht  and  fidelity  to  the  interests  of    the  people,  and  the  outside 
world  has  come  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  citizens  of  Chicago 
can  rise  superior  to  petty  malice,  and  renew  their  confidence  in 
an  administration  whose  policy  has  been  persistently  in  the  direc- 
tion of  honesty  and  economy.      It  has  been  remarkable  that  while 
the  bitterest  denunciations  have  been  hurled  at  the  head  of   the 
administration,  the  partisan  papers  have  been  forced  to  concede 
great  merit   in  the  heads  of   each  and  every  department  of  the 
city   government.       They   have    constantly  spoken    of    one   or 
another  of  these  heads   as   performing  their  duties  admirably, 
thus  evincing  their  ignorance  or  forgetfulness  of  the  fact  that  the 
Mayor  performs  few  duties  himself,  but  runs  the  city. through  his 
several  appointees.     The    people,    however,    have  been  able  to 
read  between  the  lines,  and  to  do  justice.     They  recognize  that 
the  administration  has  been  honest,  painstaking  and  economical. 
But,  as  I  said,   the   fair  name  of  die  city  has  been  thoroughly 
established,  and  outside  people  who  had  been  temporarily  alarmed 
over  newspaper  reports  of  riots,  mob  violence  and  general  lawless- 
ness, have  had  their  eyes  opened  to  the  utter  groundlessness  of 
these  reports,  and  their  faith  renewed  in  the  general  peaceable 
character  and  disposition  of   our  inhabitants.      Nothing  can  bet- 
ter illustrate  this  renewed  confidence  than  the  report  of  the  bank 
clearances  of  Chicago.     These  clearances  are   the  thermometer 
of  the  commercial  prosperity  of  a  city,  and  as  we  all  know,  noth- 
ing so  affects  business  investments,  enterprise  and   credit,   as  a 
widespread  fear  of  general  lawlessness.     During  the  heat  of  the 
late  municipal   campaign,   when  political  orators  were  inflaming 
the  people  with  the  most  false  assertions,  the  bank  clearances  for 
the  week  ending  March  28  showed  that  there  was   in   this  city  a 
decrease  of   19. 1    percent,  as  compared  with  the  corresponding 
week  of  the  previous  year,  while  for  the  week  ending  April  25, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  7)37 

the  clearances  had  increased  5.1  percent.  ;  or,  to  more  pointedly 
indicate  the  variation  in  the  commercial  situation,  while  the 
clearances  amounted  to  $33,771,000  for  the  week  ending  March 
28,  they  rose  to  $43,525,000  for  the  week  ending  April  25,  a  gain 
of  $9,754,000.  So  far  as  the  financial  credit  of  the  city  was 
involved  in  the  contest,  it  remained  intact.  Financial  men 
throughout  the  country  have  come  to  regard  the  management 
of  the  finances  of  the  city  of  Chicago  as  one  of  the  best  among 
the  cities  of  our  land,  and  so  long  as  our  obligations  are  met  as 
promptly  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  no  venomous  assaults  upon 
the  administration  can  in  the  least  affect  the  city's  credit.  The 
Comptroller  has  fully  set  forth  in  his  annual  report  the  opera- 
tions of  his  department,  and  it  will  therefore  be  unnecessary 
for  me  to  more  than  allude  to  it,  and  refer  you  to  its  detailed 
statement  of  the  city's  finances  A  reference  to  it  will  show 
that  the  debt  per  capita  of  this  city  is  the  least  of  any  of  the 
thirteen  leading  cities  of  the  country,  and  that  during  the  year 
ending  December  31,  1884,  over  fifty  miles  of  buildings  were 
erected  at  a  cost  of  $20,689,000,  or  $3,189,000  more  than  that 
of  the  previous  year. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  city  will  compare  favorably 
with  that  of  any  other  large  city.  The  winter  has  been  a  long 
and  very  severe  one,  and  there  were  necessarily  large  accumula- 
tions of  garbage  in  some  localities.  With  the  appropriation 
made  by  your  honorable  body  the  work  of  removing  the  accumu- 
lations has  been  and  is  being  rapidly  prosecuted  under  the  De- 
partment of  Health  as  well  as  the  Department  of  Public  Works. 
With  these  precautions  there  need  be  no  apprehension  of  any 
general  epidemic.  The  fact  that  the  city  shows  a  less  annual 
death  rate  than  any  other  city  in  proportion  to  population,  ought 
certainly  to  make  Chicagoans  feel  more  secure  than  people  in  other 
metropolitan  cities.  The  creation  of  the  department  of  tene- 
ment-house and  workshop  inspection  a  few  years  ago  was  a  wise 
measure,  and  the  work  performed  by  it  has  all  tended  to  put 
these  places  in  excellent  sanitary  condition.  Overcrowding  and 
defective  ventilation  have  been  obviated,  and  the  wage-workers 
placed  in  less  jeopardy  of  their  health  by  a  foul  atmosphere. 
This  character  of  work  and  inspection  will  continue  to  be  pushed 
with  increasing  energy.  It  may  be  claimed  to  have  been  a  Chi- 
cago invention— indeed,  the  invention  of  this  administration. 
Proud  of  what  it  has  done  for  the  manual  laborer,  we  hope  to 
carry  it  onward  to  perfection.  The  Police  Department  has  been 
ably  and  energetically  managed.     The  report  of  its  superintend- 


338  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ent  shows  that  the  police  have  rendered  good  service  in  the  sup- 
pression of  crime  and  lawlessness.  The  total  number  of  arrests 
for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1884,  was  39,434  I  m  J883,  37,- 
187;  in  1882,  32,800,  and  in  1881,  31,713.  The  total  value  of 
property  reported  stolen  for  the  past  year  was  $149,837  ;  in  1883, 
$144,802;  in  1882,  $121,929  ;  in  1881,  $147,144.  The  value  of 
property  recovered  in  1884  was  $112,943;  in  1883,  $90,792;  in 
1882,  $91,265  ;  in  1881,  $118,508.  The  patrol  wagons  respond- 
ed to  23,921  alarms,  made  14,521  arrests,  attended  1,188  fires, 
and  traveled  56,087  miles.  This  system  is  being  extended,  and 
has  proved  itself  a  most  valuable  adjunct  of  the  Police  Depart- 
ment. In  fact,  if  this  administration  had  no  other  hold  upon 
the  popular  estimation,  the  invention  and  perfection  of  the  po- 
lice patrol  system  should  entitle  it  to  the  gratitude  of  our  people. 
The  Fire  Department  has  also  admirably  looked  after  the  prop- 
erty interests  of  our  people.  The  number  of  fires  during  the 
past  year  was  1,278;  the  valuation  of  the  property  involved 
amounted  to  $22,685,601  ;  insurance  involved,  $12,048,683  ;  es- 
timated loss  by  fire,  $968,229;  average  loss  by  fire,  $756;  loss 
per  capita  of  city's  population,  $150.  The  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  alarms  attended  over  that  of  the  previous  year  was  177. 
The  department  also  attended  to  37  alarms  outside  of  the  city 
limits.  The  result  of  the  faithfulness  and  vigilance  of  the  de- 
partment has  been  to  keep  down  the  loss  to  a  minimum,  and  a 
comparison  with  the  returns  of  other  cities  will  show  that  Chica- 
go has  a  fire  force  unequaled  by  any  in  the  world.  The  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Works  has  rendered  excellent  and  efficient  ser- 
vice in  carrying  forward  public  improvements.  Its  work  has  cov- 
ered a  large  territory  where  improvements  have  been  needed  by 
the  constant  increase  of  population,  and  the  upbuilding  of  large 
vacant  tracts  of  property  and  the  future  growth  of  the  city  will 
call  for  still  further  improvements,  which  the  department,  under 
your  guidance  and  directions,  will  fully  meet.  But  for  the  im- 
mediate future  there  are  two  things  that  seem  to  me  to  be  essen- 
tial to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people  of  the  city  and  the  needs  of 
property-owners  along  the  river.  The  first  is  the  construction  of 
two  or  three  bridges  across  the  river,  leading  to  the  West  divi- 
sion, of  similar  width  as  the  Rush  street  bridge,  so  as  to  admit  of 
the  rapid  transit  of  vehicles  and  other  conveniences  from  one 
side  to  the  other.  The  double-width  bridge  between  the  North 
and  South  divisions  has  been  of  incalculable  advantage  to  the 
intramural  commerce  of  the  city  in  that  direction,  and  any  one  at 
all    familiar  with  the   immense  traffic  between  the   South  and 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  339 

West  divisions  will  at  once  recognize  the  pressing  necessity  for 
a  like  advantage  for  the  people  on  the  West  side. 

I  trust  your  honorable  body  will  take  the  necessary  steps  to 
carry  out  this  greatly  needed  improvement.  The  other  pressing 
need  is  the  purchase  or  construction  of  a  fire  boat,  to  ply  along 
the  river  in  the  emergency  of  a  fire  among  buildings  or  other 
property  contiguous  to  its  sides.  The  necessity  for  such  a  boat 
has  been  frequently  shown,  but  it  was  never  more  fully  demon- 
strated than  in  the  recent  fire  in  the  lumber  district.  You  can 
not  now  appropriate  for  such  a  boat,  but  I  have  suggested  that 
the  lumbermen  advance  a  part  of  the  money  for  a  boat,  to  be 
repaid  them  out  of  the  next  annual  appropriation,  and  the  Water 
Department  could  defray  a  part  of  the  cost,  for  the  boat  could  be 
used  in  winter  for  the  protection  of  the  crib,  by  keeping  the  ice 
in  the  river  and  harbor  away  from  it.  Under  the  department  at 
the  close  of  the  year  1878,  or  the  commencement  of  the  present 
administration,  there  were  651  miles  of  streets  improved  or  unim- 
proved within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city.  Of  this  number 
132  miles  were  improved — practically  20  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 
At  that  time  not  more  than  15  per  cent,  of  the  pavements  were 
in  a  passable  condition.  The  total  number  of  miles  of  pavements 
laid  each  year  from  1879  to  1884  inclusive,  was  as  follows  :  1879, 
6.83  miles;  1880,  16.84  miles;  1881,  24.52  miles;  1882,  24.95 
miles;  1883,  22.49  miles;  1884,  34.52  miles;  total,  130.15  miles; 
average  each  year,  21.69  miles.  This  statement  does  not  include 
streets  that  have  been  curbed  and  filled,  which  might  properly  be 
considered  as  improvements.  A  very  large  portion  of  the  streets 
improved  prior  to  1879  have  been  repaired  during  the  past  six 
years.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1884,  there  were  224  miles  of 
improved  streets  within  the  city,  or  34  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  an 
increase  in  six  years  of  14  per  cent.,  notwithstanding  the  large 
number  of  streets  repaired,  which  does  not  increase  the  total 
mileage.  The  total  number  of  miles  of  sewerage  constructed  in 
the  city  since  the  establishment  of  the  sewerage  system  in  1856 
up  to  and  including  the  year  1878,  a  period  of  twenty-two  years, 
is  294^  miles.  The  total  cost  of  these  improvements,  including 
catch  basins,  etc.,  was  $4,988,342.16,  or  $16,933.12  per  mile. 
The  number  of  miles  of  sewers  constructed  during  the  past  six 
years  was  1 19^3 ,  at  a  total  cost,  including  catch  basins,  etc.,  of 
$1,390,250.04,  or  $11,682.77  per  mile,  making  a  saving  over  form- 
er years  in  the  cost  of  building  sewers  of  $5,250  per  mile. 
The  total  number  of  miles  of  sewer  in  use  under  the  city  at  this 
date  is  414  miles.    Of  this  number  34.5  per  cent,  was  built  during 


34-0  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

the  past  six  years,  over  one-third  of  the  total  number  in  place. 
Prior  to  1879,  the  largest  sized  sewer  was  6%  feet  internal 
diameter.  Since  that  time  there  have  been  constructed  and  in 
use  a  half-mile  of  seven-foot,  a  half-mile  of  eight-foot,  and  two 
and  a  half  miles  of  nine-foot  sewers.  The  total  number  of  miles 
of  water  pipe  in  use  in  the  city  for  the  year  ending  December  31, 
1884,  was  543  in  round  numbers,  of  which  there  was  laid  since 
1878,  126  miles.  Last  year  the  new  West  side  pumping  engines 
were  completed,  at  a  cost  of  $351,246.97,  which  have  a  capacity 
of  adding  thirty  million  gallons  to  the  water  supply  of  the  city 
daily,  making  the  total  capacity  of  the  West  division  works 
130,000,000  gallons  a  day.  The  canal  pumping  works  were  prac- 
tically completed  in  1883  at  a  cost  of  $253,380.51,  and  have  been 
in  successful  operation  during  1884,  with  the  result  of  giving  clear 
water  in  the  Chicago  river.  During  the  past  year  viaducts  have 
been  built  at  Centre  avenue  and  Sixteenth  street,  at  a  cost  of 
$201,917.34  ;  at  Chicago  avenue  and  North  Halsted  street,  at  a 
cost  of  $323,115.58  ;  at  West  Twelfth  street  and  Beach  street, 
at  a  cost  of  $31,861.14;  and  at  Erie  street  and  the  Northwestern 
railroad  tracks,  at  a  cost  of  $41,625.87 — making  a  total  cost  of 
viaducts  for  1883-84  of  $598,519.93.  Two  swing  bridges  have 
been  built,  one  at  Ashland  avenue,  at  a  cost  of  $18,319,  and  the 
other  at  Rush  street,  at  a  cost  of  $130,000.  The  number  of 
miles  of  streets  cleaned  last  year  was  2,225.  Last  year  I  called 
your  attention  to  the  inconvenient  nomenclature  of  our  streets. 
Since  then  the  Postmaster  of  Chicago  has  notified  you  that  great 
confusion  arises  from  many  streets  having  more  or  less  near  the 
same  name,  and  asking  that  you  take  some  action  in  the  prem- 
ises. I  again  repeat  my  recommendation  that  this  entire  ques- 
tion be  carefully  looked  into.  I  suggest  that  north  and  south 
streets  be  called  avenues  ;  east  and  west,  streets  ;  diagonal  ones, 
roads ;  short  ones,  places  or  courts ;  and  that  a  new  system  of 
numbering  be  thoroughly  perfected,  so  that  any  one  would  be 
able  to  locate  at  once,  with  approximate  accuracy,  any  number  to 
be  sought.  I  suggest  that  you  pass  a  resolution  directing  the 
Department  of  Public  Works  at  once  to  prepare  some  plan  for  a 
thorough  perfection  of  some  scientific  system.  Probably  it  would 
be  well  to  appoint  a  special  committee  to  look  into  the  matter  in 
connection  with  the  department.  In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  allow 
me  to  thank  you  for  your  kind  courtesies  shown  me,  both  in  my 
capacity  as  your  presiding  officer  and  as  the  Mayor  of  the  city  ; 
and  with  the  incoming  Council  I  trust  the  relations  may  be  as 
pleasant  and  cordial.  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  34I 

July  11,  1885,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Council  was  held  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  action  in  reference  to  the  death  of  Col. 
Dominick  Welter.  Alderman  Burke,  announcing  the  death  of 
Col.  Welter,  offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions 
which,  on  his  motion,  were  adopted  by  a  unanimous  rising  vote  : 

Whereas,  This  Council  has  learned  with  profound  regret 
of  the  sudden  death  of  Colonel  Dominick  Welter,  late  Inspector 
and  Secretary  of  the  Police  Department  of  the  city  of  Chicago  ; 
therefore 

Resolved,  That  we  do  hereby  adopt  the  following  memorial, 
and  order  the  same  published  and  a  copy  thereof  engrossed  and 
sent  by  the  City  Clerk  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

MEMORIAL. 

Dominick  Welter  was  born  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Lux- 
embourg, January  27,  1839,  and  came  to  this  country  with 
his  parents  in  1850.  In  1856-57,  he  served  as  a  private  in  the 
Seventh  United  States  Infantry.  During  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Ohio  Cavalry,  and  a  prisoner  of 
war  at  Libby  prison  and  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina.  By  his 
intrepid  courage  and  daring  he  rose  during  the  war  to  the  rank  of 
Major,  commanding  his  regiment.  Returning  to  Chicago  when 
the  war  was  over,  he  engaged  in  business  here  up  to  December, 
1882.  In  1877,  during  the  riots,  Major  Welter  was  made  com. 
mander  of  Company  A  of  the  local  cavalry  and  was  subsequently 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  In  November,  1882, 
he  was  appointed  Inspector  and  Secretary  of  Police,  which  position 
he  held  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  To  the  untiring  zeal  and  ex- 
cellent drill  of  Col.  Welter  is  to  be  ascribed  in  a  very  large  de- 
gree the  efficiency  of  our  present  police.  To  his  duties  he  brought 
a  practical  experience  and  knowledge,  which  rendered  him  invalu- 
uable  to  the  force.  His  advice  and  counsel  were  always  in  demand, 
and  was  ever  found  to  be  safe,  conservative  and  wise.  The  city  of 
Chicago  is  largely  indebted  to  Col.  Welter  for  the  good  work  he 
has  done,  and  it  is  but  just  and  right  that  these  obligations  should 
be  acknowledged.  In  his  private  character  he  was  all  that  is 
admirable — ever  genial  and  courteous  in  his  intercourse  with 
men,  he  was  both  respected  and  loved  by  those  who  knew  him ; 
a  staunch  friend,  an  able  and  a  faithful  officer  ;  a  brave  man,  his 
death  is  a  loss  to  the  entire  community.  We  place  on  record 
this  acknowledgment  of  our  appreciation  of  his  character  as  an 
official  and  as  a  man,  and  tender  to  his  family  our  sincere  sym- 
pathy upon  the  great  loss  which  they  have  sustained. 


342  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

The  Chair  appointed  Aldermen  Burke,  Eisfeldt  and  Simons  a 
Committee  of  Arrangements  to  make  preparations  for  the  fun- 
eral, which  took  the  form  of  a  public  demonstration,  with  civic 
and  military  honors. 

August  10  Mayor  Harrison  submitted  a  veto  message  to  the 
Council,  in  which  the  following  occurred  : 

Gentlemen  : — I  herewith  return  to  you  without  approval 
"An  ordinance  granting  rights  to  The  Equitable  Gas  Light  and 
Fuel  Company  of  Chicago."  There  are  grave  doubts  as  to  the 
policy  of  granting  rights  to  any  gas  company,  however  properly 
the  ordinance  granting  such  rights  may  be  drawn.  While  con- 
ceding that  competition  is  calculated  to  and  tends  toward  hold- 
ing in  check  corporations  of  this  nature,  yet  all  must  acknowledge 
that  such  competition  must  be  of  a  healthy  character.  A  compe- 
tition which  simply  produces  warfare  between  companies  ulti- 
mately ends  in  the  larger  corporations  swallowing  up  the  weaker 
ones,  and  finally  leaving  the  public  at  the  mercy  of  the  cormo- 
rants. Healthy  competition  pre-supposes  two  elements.  First, 
the  demand  of  the  public  for  the  competition  ;  and  secondly,  capi- 
tal willing  to  invest  and  to  hold  its  own.  Is  there  such  demand 
now?  And  is  capital  looking  for  the  investment?  There  are 
now  three  companies  in  the  city  supplying  gas.  One  of  them 
has  gone  into  a  receiver's  hands,  and  it  is  said  the  plant  will  be 
sold  out  to  save  the  bondholders.  Capital  seeking  investment 
would  wisely  take  hold  of  this  company's  plant  rather  than  to 
erect  a  new  one.  A  fourth  company  will  subject  our  streets  to 
being  torn  up  and  force  the  people  to  the  vast  inconvenience  such 
tearing  up  entails.  Our  streets  are  in  many  localities  well  paved 
over  the  pipes  of  these  three  companies.  A  new  company  will 
seek  the  same  streets,  and  the  city  will  again  be  in  the  confused 
condition  witnessed  during  the  past  two  or  three  years.  The 
Council  should  be  careful  not  to  subject  the  people  to  this  with- 
out the  best  of  public  reasons.  Some  persons  may  make  money 
out  of  such  company,  but  the  public  will  pay  the  cost.  We  have 
no  right  to  grant  such  rights  to  a  company  merely  to  help  enrich 
any  person  or  persons.  We  are  the  trustees  of  the  people,  and 
not  the  mere  friends  of  speculators. 

September  14  the  Mayor  sent  a  communication  to  the  Coun- 
cil announcing  the  receipt  of  $700  from  the  Hon.  Lambert  Tree, 
to  be  used  in  conferring  a  medal  annually  upon  the  member  of 
the  Police  or  Fire  Departments  performing  the  most  distinguished 
act  of  bravery,  and  recommending  that  a  "  Merit  Roll "  be  kept, 
so  that  the  names  of  those  receiving  the  medal  and  a  record  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  343 

the  deeds  which  entitled  them  to  it,  might  be  preserved.  October 
5,  in  a  communication,  the  Mayor  pointed  out  the  difficulty  in- 
volved in  arriving  at  a  decision  as  to  what  act  of  a  member  of 
the  two  departments  concerned  should  be  considered  most 
worthy  of  recognition,  and  announcing  that,  in  order  to  provide 
recognition  for  each  branch  of  the  service,  he  would  establish  a 
fund  sufficient  to  provide  a  medal  similar  to  the  Tree  medal. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DEATH  OF  GEN.    U.  S.  GRANT — FUNERAL   OBSEQUIES    AND    ACTION  OF 

THE  CITY  COUNCIL ACTION  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  VICE-PRESIDENT 

THOMAS     A.     HENDRICKS VETO     OF     THE     APPROPRIATION     OF 

l886 — SKETCH  OF  CARTER  H.   HARRISON FIRST    ELECTION    UN- 
DER THE  NEW  LAW ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  ELECTION  BOARD 

ABSTRACT  OF  THE  LAW,   ETC. 

Chicago  never  witnessed  a  more  imposing  demonstration 
than  that  which  took  place  in  July,  1885,  on  the  day  of  the  inter- 
ment of  the  remains  of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  in  New  York 
City.  A  splendid  catafalque  was  provided,  and  accompanied 
by  the  various  veteran  and  Grand  Army  organizations,  the  militia 
and  civic  societies,  and  a  vast  number  of  organizations  and  citi- 
zens anxious  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  plain  citizen  and 
great  soldier,  the  procession  moved  at  the  same  hour  as  the  fun- 
eral procession  moved  in  New  York,  the  tolling  bells  and  boom- 
ing cannon  making  the  demonstration  an  impressive  and  memo- 
rable one  in  the  annals  of  the  city.  A  committee  of  citizens  was 
organized  to  receive  subscriptions  to  a  monument  fund,  and  in  a 
few  weeks,  by  the  assistance  of  the  newspapers,  which  received 
popular  subscriptions  in  small  amounts,  the  fund  reached  $50,000, 
and  a  splendid  memorial  is  now  in  process  of  erection  in  Lincoln 
park,  under  direction  of  the  Grant  Monument  Committee.  The 
City  Council  met  in  special  session  July  23,  to  take  action  suitable 
to  the  occasion,  and  were  addressed  by  Mayor  Harrison  as 
follows  : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Council  : — For  several  hours  the  at- 
mosphere has  been  heavy,  the  clouds  have  been  lowering,  and 
we  have  known  that  the  thunder  might  at  any  moment  be  heard, 
and  the  lightning  be  seen  in  its  greatest  vividness.  Yet  if  a 
flash  should  come  now  and  a  peal  of  thunder  strike  upon  our 
ears,  we  would  be  as  startled  and  tremble  as  though  it  were  unex- 
pected. For  weeks  it  has  been  known  that  one  of  America's 
heroes,  one  to  whom  the  people  are  probably  as  much  indebted 
as  to  any  one  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  was 
upon  a  bed  of  sickness,  and  that  any  moment  the  lightning  might 
flash  along  the  wires  and  tell  us   he  was  gone  forever.     Still, 

(344) 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  345 

when  the  bells  tolled  this  morning,  bringing  the  news  to  us  that 
Ulysses  S.  Grant  was  dead,  there  was  a  feeling  of  awe — aye,  a 
shock  came  to  all  our  ears,  and  probably  to  those  of  every  man 
and  woman  in  this  broad  land.  I  felt  it  was  a  duty  to  call  this 
Council  together — the  Council  of  this  great  city,  which  had  hon- 
ored Grant  and  claimed  him  as  one  of  her  own  citizens,  to  take 
such  action  as  might  seem  to  the  members  proper.  Ulysses  S. 
Grant  occupied  a  position  unique  in  this  century.  He  was  a 
figure  standing  out  as  boldly  as  any  other  has  stood  during  this 
or  any  past  century,  and  as  we  hope,  any  other  will  stand  out 
for  centuries  to  come.  From  the  lowly  walks  of  private  life,  he 
went  forward  to  his  country's  defence,  battling  as  a  brave  soldier, 
and  guiding  as  a  wise  general.  From  Belmont,  Appomattox,  his 
sword  was  ever  gleaming  upon  mighty  battle-fields.  It  was  un- 
der his  leadership  that  the  great  war  of  the  rebellion  was  brought 
to  a  close,  securing  the  union  of  the  states,  and  binding  them 
together  as  one  and  forever  inseparable.  He  occupied  then  a 
place  that  no  other  American  citizen  ever  obtained — General  of 
the  American  armies — for  our  noble  Washington  was  only  a 
Lieutenant-General.  General  Grant  was  called  by  his  fellow- 
men  to  be  President  of  the  United  States,  and  he  served  for 
eight  years  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  America.  «Then,  when 
he  laid  down  his  official  robes,  as  the  representative  of  America 
he  was  welcomed  in  every  land  in  the  broad  circuit  of  this 
globe,  and  treated  with  the  courtesies  and  consideration  that  had 
previously  only  been  extended  to  emperors  and  crowned  heads. 
Thus,  this  man  is  a  unique  figure — a  great  general,  who  fought 
for  his  country,  and  possibly  saved  it ;  the  illustrious  President, 
and  the  distinguished  citizen,  who  is  known  in  every  land,  on 
every  sea,  and  in  every  clime  ;  he  is  a  figure  unique  in  American 
history,  and  as  I  say,  we  may  well  hope  and  earnestly  pray  that 
the  great  leader  who  assumed  the  responsibilities  and  brought 
about  the  close  of  that  internecine  strife  will  never  need  a  suc- 
cessor in  the  work  he  performed.  General  Grant  has  for  years 
been  something  else  more  than  a  successful  general  and  an  ex- 
President.  He  has  been  the  representative  throughout  this 
broad  land  of  one  grand  idea,  the  idea  that  he  proclaimed  at 
Appomattox,  that  the  war  was  ended,  and  that  this  Union  was 
absolutely  cemented  together,  and  this  people's  heart  and  sym- 
pathies and  aspirations  were  inseparably  linked.  For  months 
Providence  has  laid  upon  this  brave  hero  the  withering  hand 
of  disease  ;  the  dread  enemy  of  mankind  has  stood  before  him, 
sternly  bidding  him  hence ;  and  the  eyes  of  all  Americans  and 


346  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

the  world  have  been  turned  toward  his  home  (and  lately  to 
Mount  McGregor)  and  it  has  been  asked  day  after  day,  "How  is 
it  with  our  hero  ?"  Suffering,  the  world's  sympathy  went  to  him, 
and  to-day  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  single  man  or  woman  with  any 
sort  of  humanity  in  the  heart  that  does  not  feel  a  pang  of  re- 
gret. Southerners  who  had  fought  for  the  lost  cause,  Northern- 
ers who  had  fought  for  the  Union,  have  shown  equal  solicitude 
and  anxiety,  and  inquired  anxiously  and  affectionately  for  him. 
Among  his  last  callers  was  one  he  had  met  at  Fort  Donelson, 
where  he  gained  his  first  glory.  This  man,  whom  our  hero  had 
conquered,  met  the  dying  soldier-statesman  at  Mount  McGregor, 
and  together  they  shed  tears,  and  hoped  for  a  perpetual  union 
and  friendship  of  the  American  people.  His  example  has  been 
to  forever  bury  the  animosities  in  one  eternal  tomb.  General, 
President,  and  guest  of  nations,  in  his  dying  breath  handing 
down  the  words  of  love  and  peace  !  At  Appomattox  he  pledged 
to  his  defeated  opponents  a  nation's  amnesty.  He  died  to-day 
with  that  pledge  upon  his  lips,  a  living  promise  of  the  nation  he 
had  helped  to  save.  It  is  right  that  we  should  take  action. 
What  should  be  that  action  ?  A  nation  mourns,  and  the  nation 
will  be  anxious  to  tread  silently  after  his  body  when  it  is  laid  in 
its  eternal  home.  It  would  be  impossible  for  Chicago  to  be 
fairly  represented,  or  for  her  people  to  go  in  a  body.  I  believe 
that  in  every  city  in  America,  and  in  every  hamlet,  whenever 
his  remains  are  carried  to  their  last  resting  place,  a  funeral  cor- 
tege should  move  at  the  same  stroke  of  the  bell  and  march  to 
do  our  dead  hero  homage.  I  shall  suggest  to  the  people,  if  it 
be  agreeable,  that  we  attend  his  funeral.  It  is  proper  that  the 
people  of  this  great  city,  the  capital  of  this  great  state,  of  which 
he  was  a  citizen,  should  pay  just  tribute.  I  have  taken  it  upon 
myself  to  telegraph  his  wife  and  children  this  message  : 

Chicago,  July  23,  18S3. 

Mrs.  Grant,  Mount  McGregor,  N.  Y., — Madame:  In  the 
name  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  on  behalf  of  its  municipal 
government  and  people,  I  tender  to  you  and  your  children  pro- 
found and  most  heartfelt  sympathy.  Yesterday  General  Grant, 
the  honored  citizen  of  Illinois,  and  of  Chicago,  was  your  loving 
husband  and  long-tried  friend  ;  to-day  his  name  and  memory  are 
the  cherished  property  of  the  American  people. 

Carter  H.   Harrison,   Mayor. 

I  did  this  because  I  knew  I  was  only  anticipating  your 
wishes.  I  felt  you  would  blame  me  if  I  did  not  do  it  immedi- 
ately.    We  are  met  here  now  to  take  such  action  as  you  may 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  7>\7 

deem  proper.  I  want  now  to  hear  what  you  have  to  say,  and  I 
know  the  people  of  Chicago  are  anxious  to  hear  what  its  repre- 
sentatives have  to  say.  I  also  hope  that  what  is  said  will  be 
taken  down  and  printed  for  future  reference. 

Alderman  Ryan  arose  and  presented  and  moved  the  adop- 
tion of  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  : 

Whereas,  This  Council  has  heard  with  profound  and  solemn 
regret  of  the  death  of  U.  S.  Grant,  late  commander  of  the  Amer- 
ican armies  and  President  of  the  United  States;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  as  the  death  of  General  Grant  is  a  calamity 
affecting  the  entire  nation,  and  is  so  regarded  by  the  people  of 
Chicago,  the  Mayor  is  hereby  authorized  to  take  such  steps  in 
behalf  of  the  city  on  this  occasion  as  may  seem  fitting  and  ap- 
propriate : 

Aid.  Shorey — I  am  sure  the  Council  will  respond  as  one 
man  to  the  eloquent  sentiments  which  have  just  been  expressed 
by  his  Honor  the  Mayor.  For  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century 
now  General  Grant,  by  his  conduct,  character  and  achievements, 
has  attracted  the  attention  and  regard  of  the  world.  He  is  an 
honor  to  his  country  and  to  the  human  race.  He  has  added  one 
more  name  to  that  select  few  who  are  inscribed  on  the  roll  of 
the  immortals.  America  has  indeed  during  the  lasfrone  hundred 
years  acted  well  its  part  in  giving  to  the  world  illustrious  names  ; 
but  I  think  it  is  the  unanimous  voice  that  among  all  the  distin- 
guished names  there  is  no  one  that  is  now  held,  or  will  in  the 
future  be  held,  in  more  grateful  remembrance  than  the  name  of 
him  whose  death  we  are  called  upon  to-day  to  mourn.  Illinois 
has  reason  to  be  proud  as  well  as  sad  to-day.  When  impartial 
history  shall  have  made  up  its  verdict,  the  name  of  Grant  will  be 
associated  forever  with  the  immortal  name  of  Lincoln.  Around 
the  name  of  Grant  there  is  such  luster  that  any  state  or  nation 
might  be  proud  to  call  him  its  son.  During  most  of  the  mature 
years  of  his  life,  he  lived  amid  the  fiercest  contention,  civic  as 
well  as  military  ;  but  it  needs  not  now  the  charity  which  comes 
with  death  and  the  grave  to  remove  the  asperity  which  attended 
this  contention,  for  I  believe  there  is  not  from  the  far  pine  for- 
ests of  Maine  to  the  prairies  of  Texas  so  much  as  one  man  un- 
der the  flag  of  the  Union  anywhere  who  would  not  bring  laurel 
to  the  crave  of  our  dead  hero.  When,  a  short  time  a^o,  I  was 
in  London,  nothing  impressed  me  so  much  or  gratified  me  more 
than  the  evidences  that  were  everywhere  apparent  of  the  care 
England  takes  of  the  name  and  memory  of  her  illustrious  dead. 
Everywhere  there  was  something  to  indicate  that  England  was 


348  POLITICS    AND    TOLITICIANS, 

determined  to  transmit  from  one  generation  to  another  the  glo- 
ries of  her  heroes.  So  should  it  be  here.  Let  this  grand,  sim- 
ple and  heroic  life  be  perpetuated  by  every  device  of  art,  by 
painting,  by  sculpture  and  by  monument ;  and  by  literature — the 
most  enduring  tablet  that  man  can  create — as  a  lesson  for  the 
coming  generations.  Let  his  illustrious  name  and  character  be 
transmitted  in  undiminished  luster  through  all  the  coming  gen- 
erations. 

Aid.  Hull. — I  feel  gratified  that  his  Honor,  the  chief  mag- 
istrate of  the  city,  has  taken  the  initiative  on  this  sad  occasion, 
for  one  of  the  world's  greatest  men  has  passed  away.  The  death 
of  General  Grant  is  mourned  by  every  man,  woman  and  child 
throughout  the  civilized  world.  It  is  not  for  every  generation  of 
men  to  see  in  person  the  man  who  is,  and  who  will  continue  to 
be,  the  colossal  figure  in  the  world's  history.  As  children,  they 
had  read  the  history  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution,  but  in  man- 
hood they  were  given  the  pleasure  of  not  only  reading,  but  of 
gazing  upon  the  greatest  hero  of  the  world.  Comparison  with 
the  heroes  of  other  nations  will  not  dim  the  luster  of  his  charac- 
ter, or  of  his  achievements.  Amid  the  severest  struggle  ever 
known  for  national  life  ;  amid  disorder  and  consternation  ;  he 
stood  calm,  a  tower  of  strength.  Although  he  is  dead,  his  mem- 
ory will  be  cherished  by  those  who  will  take  pride  in  doing  honor 
to  the  silent  soldier. 

Aid.  Clark. — I  feel  a  hesitation  in  rising  to  address  the 
Council  on  this  occasion.  The  life  of  General  Grant  is  known 
to  us,  and  in  the  world's  history  it  will  fill  a  brilliant  page.  More 
eloquent  tongues  will  pay  tribute  to  his  memory  as  a  citizen  and 
statesman,  but  as  a  soldier  I  would  like  to  say  a  word  of  him.  In 
the  winter  of  1S64,  while  I  was  serving  on  the  staff  of  General 
Robinson,  I  met  General  Grant  almost  hourly,  and  then  I  was 
struck  with  admiration  for  his  character  as  a  man  and  a  soldier. 
The  life  of  Grant  was  so  noble  and  chivalrous  that  future  genera- 
tions should  be  educated  to  emulate  it.  He  was  inflexible  of 
purpose,  and  when  in  battle  an  object  was  to  be  gained,  he  bent 
all  the  energies  of  his  great  mind  to  secure  it.  From  Donelson 
to  Appomattox,  there  was  not  a  single  indication  of  hesitation  in 
all  his  movements.  An  index  of  his  inflexible  resolution  was 
found  in  his  famous  utterance,  "I  will  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if 
it  takes  all  summer."  Where  could  there  be  found,  too,  a  man 
more  generous  to  an  enemy?  I  know  of  no  one  in  the  history 
of  the  country  more  generous  than  U.  S.  Grant.  What  monu- 
ment could  man  raise  that  would  be  as  noble  as  the  character  of 
the  man  himself? 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  349 

Aid.  Hildreth. — We  are  present  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  greatest  chieftain  the  world  ever  saw.  I  speak 
not  now  as  an  Alderman,  although  I  enjoy  my  right  to  address 
this  body  from  the  fact  that  I  am  a  member  of  this  Council,  but  as 
a  private  soldier  who  served  under  the  command  of  the  great 
soldier  who  has  now  passed  away.  It  is  my  privilege  to  repre- 
sent the  soldiers  here,  to  talk  here  for  the  men  who  fought  in  the 
war  of  the  rebellion.  The  news  of  Grant's  death  will  go  to  the  sol- 
diers and  cause  them  to  stop  and  think  overthe  achievements  of  the 
great  chieftain,  who,  by  his  power  and  knowledge,  cemented  this 
union  of  states.  A  soldier  loves  a  soldier  better  than  he  does  any 
other  man  on  earth.  Men  who  go  to  battle  for  their  country's 
rights  must  be  brave,  and  they  must  therefore  be  kind  and  forgiv- 
ing. The  soldier  weeps  when  he  hears  of  the  death  of  his  gallant 
commander.  To-night,  as  the  soldiers  retire  to  their  beds,  silent 
prayers  will  be  sent  up  to  the  Supreme  Architect  of  the  Universe, 
asking  him  to  recognize  the  nation's  chieftain,  and  to  open  the 
heavenly  portals  for  him.  As  a  soldier,  General  Grant  has  been 
all  that  the  nation  could  expect ;  as  a  statesman,  he  has  been  the 
equal  of  the  most  illustrious  men  this  country  has  produced  ;  and 
as  a  citizen  he  was  always  a  staunch  advocate  of  measures  that  he 
believed  were  for  the  good  of  his  land.  The  people  of  this  city 
cannot  do  a  greater  service  to  our  country's  cause  than  by  giving 
honor  to  the  memory  of  this  soldier  and  statesman,  General 
Grant. 

Aid.  Dalton. — The  life  and  career  of  General  Grant  calls  to 
my  mind  the  beautiful  stanza  in  a  "  Psalm  of  Life,"  by  Henry 
W.  Longfellow,  one  of  America's  greatest  poets  : 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 

We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 

Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time." 

America  can  point  with  pride  to  the  long  line  of  her  distin- 
guished statesmen,  her  Franklin,  her  Jefferson,  Lincoln,  Sum- 
ner, and  a  host  of  others.  The  death  of  General  Grant  to-day 
adds  another  to  the  blazing  galaxy  of  distinguished  names  that 
are  burning  like  bright  stars  in  the  front  of  the  nation's  sky.  Il- 
linois may  well  be  proud  as  well  as  sad  to-day.  General  Grant, 
although  born  in  Ohio,  and  recently  residing  in  New  York,  was 
a  citizen  of  Illinois.  It  was  here  he  spent  the  best  days  of  his 
life  ;  and  it  was  from  this  great  state  he  was  called  forth  to  quell 
the  rebellion  and  save  the  nation.  It  was  his  guardianship  that 
saved  the  Union,  and   it  was  his  sword   that   abolished   human 


35° 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


slavery,  and  compelled  obedience  to  the  nation's  laws.  In  the 
ages  yet  to  come,  when  the  roll  of  those  who  aided  in  establish- 
ing and  perpetuating  our  republican  form  of  government  shall  be 
called,  no  name  will  be  called  before  that  of  General  Grant. 

Aid.  Simons. — The  visible  signs  of  grief  for  the  death  of 
America's  hero  will  in  time  disappear,  but  the  people  will  still 
continue  to  grieve  in  their  hearts  for  the  man,  who,  with  his 
sword,  preserved  the  Union.  The  land  which  he  loved,  and  for 
which  he  risked  everything  but  honor,  will  not  forget  him.  His 
will  ever  be  foremost  among  the  names  of  those  who  have 
rendered  valuable  service  to  the  world.  Grant,  the  humble  citi- 
zen, the  mighty  commander,  the  wise  statesman,  will  never  be 
forgotten  in  the  land  which,  in  times  that  tried  men's  souls,  he 
served  so  faithfully  and  heroically. 

Aid.  Dalton  seconded  the  motion  to  adopt  the  resolutions, 
and  they  were  adopted  by  a  rising  vote. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Council,  called  by  the  Mayor  was 
held  November  30,  1885,  to  take  action  concerning  the  death  of 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 
Mayor  Harrison  addressed  the  Council  as  follows  : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Council: — It  is  my  painful  duty  to  an- 
nounce to  you  officially  the  death  of  the  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States.  Alone  in  his  chamber,  perhaps  sleeping  sweetly, 
the  shadow  of  death  passed  over  him,  and  the  great  heart  of 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks  was  silenced  forever.  This  is  a  painful 
announcement  for  me  to  make  to  you  here,  because  he  was 
known  to  me  personally  as  a  man  of  pure  heart,  honest  intentions, 
and  above  all,  of  perfect  integrity.  It  is  painful  to  some  of  us 
because  the  dead  Vice-President  had  lately  been  called  to  the 
second  place  in  the  government  of  the  people  by  a  mighty  party 
who  believe  the  success  of  their  party  is  for  the  good  of  the 
country  ;  indeed,  we  may  acknowledge  that  the  masses  of  both 
parties  are  honest  in  the  belief  that  the  success  of  their  organi- 
zation is  for  the  country's  good.  We  who  are  of  the  same  party 
with  him  feel  that  this  is  a  calamity  to  us.  It  is  a  calamity  for 
all  parties,  for,  thank  heaven,  the  great  American  heart  comes 
to  the  tomb  with  no  partisan  animosities,  and  the  bitterest  dislike 
is  buried  beneath  the  sod.  There  are  some  who  believe  this  is  a 
calamity  because  it  is  said  it  leaves  but  one  life  between  the  gov- 
ernment and  anarchy — between  the  government  and  an  interreg- 
num. 1  do  not  like  this  last  word.  The  offspring  of  monarchical 
traditions,  it  has  taken  root  in  Europe,  but  in  free  America  it 
can  take  no  hold.     No  king  have  we  ;  the  people's  rulers  are  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  35  I 

servants  of  the  people.  When  a  ruler  is  taken  the  sovereign 
people  live.  The  American  government  never  dies.  I,  for  one, 
have  no  fear  of  this  thing  called  an  interregnum.  Without  a 
fixed  government  for  eight  long  years,  the  people  fought  in  the 
last  century  for  their  freedom,  and  won.  The  spirit  of  '76  was 
then  only  a  flower,  but  it  has  ripened  into  fruitage  and  lives 
to-day.  The  same  spirit  was  with  us  through  the  internecine 
war.  It  saw  one  President  laid  low  by  a  sensationalist  and 
another  by  the  bullet  of  a  maniac.  Yet  in  these  trying  times  the 
people,  although  decrying  the  calamity,  were  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion. There  was  no  anarchy.  If  there  was  no  President  to-day 
and  no  Vice-President  to  succeed  to  the  office,  the  mighty  people 
would  be  right,  and  would  await  the  course  of  the  law  to  fill  the 
Presidential  chair.      I  fear  no  interregnum. 

The  Vice-President  is  gone.  I  knew  him  not  intimately,  but 
I  knew  him,  I  think,  well.  Many  of  you  knew  him.  He  was  an 
honest  man.  He  was  a  gentleman  in  all  of'his  instincts  ;  kindly 
to  all,  giving  justice  to  all ;  ready  to  extenuate  no  fault,  except 
through  kindness,  and  laying  down  naught  from  malice. 
Those  who  knew  all  the  contests  he  passed  through — Governor 
of  a  state,  Member  of  Congress,  member  of  the  Senate,  and  United 
States  Vice-President — noticed  but  one  motive  in  hjs  character, 
and  that  was  to  do  well  by  his  country.  Partisanship  has  had  its 
flings  at  him,  but  by  the  chivalry  of  the  American  character  they 
have  been  hushed  for  the  past  few  days,  or,  if  uttered,  are  spon- 
taneously silenced.  I  regret  that  timid  counsels  have  persuaded 
the  President  to  remain  away  from  the  obsequies  of  the  Vice- 
President  at  Indianapolis.  I  wish  the  President  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  warmth  of  heart  that  first  prompted  him,  and 
gone  there  to  join  in  the  grand  cortege  that  will  follow  the  Vice- 
President  to  the  grave,  because  I  have  no  fear  that  the  American 
people  have  dastards  among  them  that  would  touch  God's 
anointed — the  people's  choice  for  President  now.  The  same 
eternal  God  who  holds  Washington  in  the  hollow  of  His  hand 
holds  also  Indianapolis,  and  I  am  sure  the  people  would  recog- 
nize the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  and  reverence  the  representative 
of  their  power  in  the  President.  I  am  proud  to  say  that  the  first 
impulse  of  the  President  was  to  go  to  Indianapolis,  and  that  he 
only  yielded  to  over  persuasion.  The  great  founder  of  the 
mighty  party  to  which  Vice-President  Hendricks  belonged — 
Thomas  Jefferson — had  faith  in  the  people.  The  President  of 
the  United  States  can  have  unbounded  faith  in  them.  The 
maniac  may  strike,  but  his  blow  only  falls  with  horror  upon  the 


352  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

people,  for  no  one  desires  to  take  advantage  of  the  crime.  The 
man  now  dead  in  Indianapolis  had  an  abiding  faith  in  the  people, 
and  they  had  faith  in  him,  and  to-day  the  nation  mourns.  I 
believe  that  this  city  should  be  represented  in  its  municipal 
capacity  at  Indianapolis.  For  that  purpose  I  have  called  you 
together  that  you  may  take  action.  If  you  send  a  committee,  or 
you  go  in  a  body,  regardless  of  party  feelings  engendered  by  the 
past,  you  will  go  there  to  drop  a  tear  on  the  bier,  to  strew  flow- 
ers upon  the  grave,  and  to  utter  what  he  would  have  said  so 
grandly  :  De  mortuis  nil  nisi  boniim.  Gentlemen,  the  Chair 
awaits  your  action. 

Aid.  Ryan  presented  and  moved  the  adoption  of  the  follow- 
ing preamble  and  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  The  City  Council  of  the  city  of  Chicago  has 
heard  with  deep  sorrow  of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  A. 
Hendricks,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States;  and 

Whereas,  The  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  during  his 
long,  active  and  honorable  life,  rendered  such  service  to  his  na- 
tive land  as  to  endear  his  memory  to  every  citizen  of  the  repub- 
lic ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  this  Council,  to  evince  its  profound  respect 
for  the  eminent  citizen  and  the  distinguished  statesman,  the 
Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  attend  in  a  body  the  funeral  at 
Indianapolis,  December  i. 

Resolved,  As  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased,  that  the  city  offices  be  closed  on  the  day  of  the 
funeral. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  rising  vote.  Aid.  Noyes 
presented  a  resolution  requesting  his  Honor  the  Mayor  to  ap- 
point a  committee  of  twenty-five  citizens  of  Chicago  to  attend 
the  funeral  of  the  late  Vice-President,  and  moved  its  passage. 
The  motion  prevailed. 

The  committee  was  duly  selected,  and  together  with  a  large 
delegation  of  city  and  county  officials,  attended  the  funeral  ser- 
vices at  Indianapolis. 

The  city  Council,  on  November  2,  1S85,  adopted  by  a  vote 
of  25  to  10,  a  resolution  introduced  by  Aid.  Cullerton,  providing 
for  the  closing  of  all  city  departments  on  November  3  (election 
day),  and  placing  the  Council  on  record  in  favor  of  the  adoption 
of  the  new  election  law. 

The  appropriation  bill  for  the  fiscal  year,  January  1,  1886, 
to  December  31,  1886,  passed  by  the  Council  March  3,  1886,  con- 
tained items  aggregating  $5,368,409.76.     Mayor  Harrison  vetoed 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS  353 

this  bill  March  8,  and  on  the  same  date  it  was  passed  over 
his  veto.  In  his  message  the  Mayor  had  the  following  to  say  : 
"  In  a  great,  growing  city  like  Chicago,  increasing  with  almost 
unprecedented  rapidity,  the  demands  for  municipal  governments 
are  so  great  that  the  whole  of  taxation,  permitted  by  law,  is  re- 
quired by  the  immediate  demands  of  the  city,  and  yet  you  are 
compelled  to  provide  for  improvements  that  your  people  to-day 
do  not  so  much  need  as  the  people  who  will  follow  us  will  re- 
quire. Our  people  show  their  faith  in  the  future  of  their  city  by 
expending  every  dollar  of  their  earnings  in  improving  their  prop- 
erty, and  thereby  enhancing  the  grandeur  of  the  city.  They  de- 
mand that  the  public  improvements  should  keep  pace  with  their 
private  improvements.  Their  demand  is  so  exacting,  and  at  the 
same  time  just,  that  you  are  compelled  to  build  bridges,  to  build 
viaducts  and  sewers,  to  build  engine  and  police  houses  of  a  size 
and  character  commensurate  with  the  future  growth  of  the  city 
more  than  by  the  necessities  of  the  day.  To  answer  these  just 
exactions  of  the  people  you  are  compelled  to  levy  taxes,  not  only 
for  this  year's  expenditures,  but  to  be  a  nucleus  for  appropria- 
tions for  expenditures  to  come  in  succeeding  years.  *  *  *  A 
great  many  people  who  do  understand  these  things  carp  at  the 
members  of  your  honorable  body,  calling  you  extravagant  and 
wasteful,  because  the  organic  law  of  the  land  forces  you  to  make 
appropriations  in  the  interest  of  your  respective  constituents  for 
improvements  that  ought  to  be  built  out  of  an  equitable  bonded 
system,  and  which,  in  every  other  great  city  of  the  world,  are 
built  out  of  the  proceeds  of  a  healthy  bonded  indebtedness. 
*  *  *  One  of  the  brightest  features  upon  the  past  record  of 
Chicago  is  its  stern  determination  to  pay  all  current  debts  and 
all  honorable  obligations  with  religious  fidelity.  When  I  first 
had  the  honor  of  being  chosen  Mayor  of  this  city,  I  found  in  ex- 
istence a  large  amount  of  scrip  issued  for  current  expenses.  I 
endeavored  to  run  the  city  with  almost  parsimonious  frugality, 
and  the  people,  proud  of  their  honor,  submitted  to  the  depriva- 
tion of  many  almost  imperative  necessities,  and  justified  me  and 
aided  me  in  wiping  out  the  blot  of  scrip  from  Chicago's  escutch- 
eon. I  also  found  that  about  $250,000  of  certificates  had  been 
issued  by  one  of  my  predecessors,  which  certificates  the  highest 
court  of  the  land  determined  were  absolutely  illegal,  and  were 
not  worth  more  than  the  paper  upon  which  they  were  written. 
These  illegal  certificates,  amounting  with  principal  and  interest 
to  $270,000  odd,  were  paid  faithfully,  and  not  a  man  in  Chicago 
but  cried  with  pride  that  it  was  well  done  ;  that  the  honor  of 
23 


354  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

Chicago  must  and  should  be  maintained,  and  that  we  should 
never  repudiate  any  of  her  honest  obligations.  I  cannot  believe 
that  a  debt  of  honor  is  more  sacred  than  a  legal  debt.  The  city 
of  Chicago  owes  to-day  a  judgment  indebtedness  of  $73,000, 
which  is  bearing  6  per  cent,  interest.  The  creditor  wants  and 
demands  lus  money,  but  you  have  appropriated  only  $8,000  to 
satisfy  judgments — a  little  more  than  enough  to  pay  the  accru- 
ing interest  upon  this  indebtedness.  I  earnestly  ask  you  to  put 
in  this  appropriation  bill  the  full  amount  recommended  by  the 
Law  Department  to  pay  these  debts,  to  wit,  $73,000,  thereby 
preserving  the  honor  and  the  good  name  of  the  city.  You  may 
ask  how  this  can  be  done,  and  still  not  run  the  risk  of  return  to 
scrip.  I  find  you  have  increased  salaries  of  officers  in  existence 
last  year  to  the  amount  of  $43,790.     *     *     * 

"You  have  appropriated  for  lighting  street  lamps  and  tunnels 
with  gas,  $585,000.  In  1883  you  appropriated,  in  round  num- 
bers, $324,000;  in  1884,  $396,000;  in  1885,  $537,000.  The  ne- 
cessity for  this  increase  in  the  appropriation  for  gas  was  made 
against  my  solemn  protests.  The  enormous  increase  in  1885 
and  1886  was  made  necessary  to  some  extent  by  the  change  of 
schedule  for  street  lighting,  and  by  the  nominal  increase  of  the 
size  of  the  burners.  *  *  *  I  believe  you  should  take  off 
from  the  appropriations  for  gas  alone  enough  to  cover  the  neces- 
sary appropriation  for  the  satisfaction  of  judgments  against  the 
city,  and  then  you  should  immediately  pass  an  ordinance  cutting 
down  the  price  per  lamp  post  throughout  the  city,  thereby  sav- 
ing the  difference.  *  *  *  I  earnestly  urge  you,  gentlemen, 
to  take  this  bill  and  spend  an  afternoon  over  it,  and  remodel  it. 
I  believe,  if  you  will  do  this,  that  you  will  be  enabled  to  pay  our 
honest  debts,  and  will  not  encroach  upon  the  general  fund,  which 
I  hope  you  will  continue  to  preserve  intact.  After  an  earnest 
discussion  of  the  matter  with  the  Comptroller,  I  think  to  en- 
croach farther  upon  the  general  fund  than  you  have  already  done 
would  force  us  either  to  the  issuance  of  scrip,  or  to  the  defer- 
ment of  demands  of  some  indebtedness  which  is  honestly  due. 
Both  of  these  things  should  be  avoided." 

CARTER  H.   HARRISON. 

The  Mayor  of  Chicago  for  the  fourth  time,  Hon.  Carter  H. 
Harrison,  was  born  in  Fayette  county,  Kentucky,  February  25, 
1825.  Richard  A.  Harrison,  Oliver  Cromwell's  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral, who  led  Charles  I.  to  the  block,  is  his  earliest  ancestor, 
record  of  whom  is  preserved  in  the  family  archives.     The  name 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  355 

was  conspicuous  in  Virginia  during  the  colonial  periods,  and 
Carter  H.  Harrison,  his  grandfather,  and  his  brother,  Benjamin 
Harrison,  the  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
father  of  President  William  Henry  Harrison,  are  enrolled  in  the 
annals  of  the  infancy  of  the  United  States.  Early  intermarriages 
linked  the  Harrison  family  with  the  Randolphs  and  Carters  of 
Virginia.  Through  the  former  family  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
John  Randolph  were  of  near  kin  ;  through  the  latter,  the  Reeves 
of  Virginia,  and  the  Breckenridges  of  Kentucky.  Robert  Car- 
ter Harrison,  grandfather  of  Carter  H.  Harrison,  located  in  Ken- 
tucky in  1 8 1 2 .  His  father  and  grandfather  were  graduates  of 
William  and  Mary  college.  When  Carter  H.  Harrison  was 
•eight  months  old  his  father  died,  but  the  circumstances  of  the 
family  were  left  in  an  unusually  promising  condition.  When  he 
was  fifteen  he  was  placed  under  the  scholastic  care  of  Dr.  Lewis 
Marshall,  brother  of  the  Chief-Justice,  and  father  of  the  famous 
Kentucky  orator,  Thomas  T.  Marshall.  In  1845  ne  graduated 
from  Yale  college.  He  then  studied  law,  but  did  not  practice. 
A  short  time  spent  on  his  father's  farm,  six  miles  from  Lexing- 
ton, preceded  a  trip  to  Europe  in  1851,  when  he  visited  every 
part  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  passed  into  Egypt,  and,  in 
company  with  Bayard  Taylor,  explored  Syria  ancj  Asia  Minor. 
Taylor's  "Land  of  the  Saracen"  was  the  result  of  the  tour.  In 
1853  Mn  Harrison  entered  the  Pennsylvania  Law  School  at  Lex- 
ington, and  finished  the  course  in  1855.  In  the  same  year  he 
came  to  Chicago,  at  once  commenced  courting  the  city,  which  in 
after  life  it  so  pleased  him  to  call  his  bride.  Real  estate  transac- 
tions from  that  time  forward  engaged  his  attention  aside  from 
his  political  ventures.  His  political  life  commenced  in  1871, 
when  he  was  elected  a  County  Commissioner.  In  1872 
he  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  to  Congress,  to  represent  a 
strongly  Republican  district,  but  was  defeated.  He  reduced  the 
Republican  majority  so  materially,  however,  that  in  1874  he  was 
again  placed  in  the  field,  and  elected  by  a  majority  of  eight  votes. 
At  the  time  he  was  nominated  he  was  traveling  with  his  fam- 
ily in  Germany,  Austria,  the  Tyrol  and  Switzerland.  He  at 
once  came  home  to  represent  his  district;  but  in  1875  we°t 
back,  and  after  traveling  through  Northern  Europe,  ended  his 
trip  in  Paris.  His  family  went  to  Germany,  and  he  came  to 
Chicago  only  to  be  recalled  by  the  death  of  his  wife.  While 
absent  he  was  re-elected  to  Congress.  In  1878  he  declined  a 
renomination. 

In  1879  his  name  was  first  suggested  for  the  Mayoralty,  and 


356  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

in  April  following  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  over  5,000. 
In  1881  he  was  re-elected  by  a  majority  of  8,000.  In  this  cam- 
paign, not  only  the  press  but  the  pulpit  opposed  him.  In  1883 
he  was  re-elected  by  an  increased  majority.  He  was  nominated 
in  July,  1884,  for  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  in  the  succeeding  cam- 
paign greatly  reduced  the  Republican  majority  ;  his  opponent 
being  Richard  J.  Oglesby.  In  1885  he  was  re-nominated  and 
re-elected  Mayor  of  Chicago,  but  by  a  decreased  majority,  his 
opponent,  Judge  Sidney  Smith,  receiving  the  united  vote  of  all 
opposing  elements  and  being  the  strongest  and  most  popular  man 
the  Republicans  could  put  forward.  A  contest  followed  this 
election,  which  was  terminated  by  the  withdrawal  of  Judge 
Smith,  and  the  virtual  breaking  down  of  the  prosecution. 
Mayor  Harrison  was  put  forward  as  a  candidate  for  United 
States  Senator  in  the  memorable  contest  waged  in  the  Legis- 
lature in  the  winter  of  1885-6,  and  he  received  a  flattering  vote. 
He  was  strongly  urged  to  become  a  candidate  for  Congress  in 
the  Third  Chicago  district  in  the  fall  of  1 886,  and  his  many  friends 
have  great  confidence  in  his  future  political  career. 

The  first  election  held  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  new 
election  law  was  the  Aldermanic  and  Town  election  of  April, 
1886,  and  the  returns  of  this  election  were  the  first  canvassed 
and  recorded  by  the  newly  constituted  canvassing  board.  Fol- 
lowing is  the  vote  by  wards  for  Aldermen  : 

First  ward,  W.  P.  Whelan,  Dem.,  1,052  ;  Frank  Warren, 
Rep.,  1,032.  Second  ward,  Patrick  Sanders,  Dem.,  896  ;  George 
H.  Mueller,  Rep.,  1,573.  Third  ward,  Frank  Follansbee,  Rep., 
948;  D.  H.  Gill,  Ind.  Rep.,  1,372.  Fourth  ward,  Thomas  C. 
Clarke,  Rep.,  3,397  ;  Martin  B.  Madden,  Dem.,  858.  Fifth  ward, 
Edward  P.  Burke,  Dem.,  3,248;  Charles  Hillock,  Ind  Dem., 
3,460.  Sixth  ward,  Edward  F.  Cullerton,  Dem  ,  2,846  ;  E.  A. 
Mullen,  Rep.,  1,990.  Seventh  ward,  James  H.  Hildreth,  Dem., 
2  211  ;  W.  M.  Hoshein,  Rep.,  1,852.  Eighth  ward,  John  Long, 
Dem.,  2,240;  Lawrence  A.  Yore,  Rep.,  2,599.  Ninth  ward, 
John  Gaynor,  Dem.,  1,159  ;  John  R.  Wheeler,  Rep.,  1,278  ;  Jo- 
seph J.  Duffy,  Ind.  Dem.,  350.  Tenth  ward,  Martin  F.  Crowe, 
Dem.,  641  ;  Henry  M.  Deal,  Rep.,  1,038.  Eleventh  ward,  Sam- 
uel Kerr,  Ind.  Rep.,  1,594;  William  S.  Johnson,  Rep.,  1,570; 
William  Nugent,  Dem.,  207.  Twelfth  ward,  James  L.  Camp- 
bell, Rep.,  4,135  ;  William  L.  Snell,  Ind.  Rep.,  640;  William  H. 
Dyson,  Prohibitionist,  160.  Thirteenth  ward,  Dennis  Considine, 
Dem.,  1,348;  James  A.  Landon,  Rep.,  1,868.  Fourteenth  ward, 
Daniel  W.    Ryan,  Rep.,  2,655;  Jeremiah  A.   Sullivan,  Dem.,  1,- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  357 

483  ;  Adam  Ochs,  Ind.  Dem.,  1,370.  Fifteenth  ward,  William 
S.  Young-,  Jr.,  Rep.,  1,161  ;  Joseph  S.  Ernst,  Dem.,  2,858.  Six- 
teenth ward,  Charles  Winkler,  Rep.,  1,232  ;  John  H.  Colvin, 
Dem.,  1,731.  Seventeenth  ward,  Thomas  Carney,  Jr.,  Ind.  Rep., 
1,498  ;  Charles  D.  Wells,  Dem.,  1363.  Eighteenth  ward,  Jacob 
H.  Tiedemann,  Rep.,  2,602;  Julius  Jonas,  Dem.,  1,507;  Martin 
O'Connor,  Ind.  Dem.,  145.  The  vote  for  Town  officers  was  as 
follows  : 

SOUTH     TOWN. 

Assessor,  De  Young,  Rep.,  9,530;  West,  Dem.,  8,332.  De 
Young's  majority,  1,  198.  Stilwell,  Prohibition,  received  105  votes. 
Collector,  Gilbert,  Rep.,  9,180;  Stuckart,  Dem.,  8,679;  Burnett, 
Prohibition,  106.  Gilbert's  majority,  501.  Supervisor,  Shan- 
ahan,  Rep.,  9,755  ;  McCormick,  Dem.,  8,075  ;  Mills,  Prohibition, 
no.  Shanahan's  majority,  680.  Clerk,  Mitchell,  Rep.,  9,515; 
Armistead,  Dem.,  8,191;  De  Puy,  Prohibition,  112.  Mitchell's 
majority,  1,324. 

WEST    TOWN. 

Assessor,  Ryan,  Dem.,  15,391  ;  Bell,  Rep.,  19,595  ;  Hay- 
man,  Prohibition,  155.  Bell's  majority,  4,204.  Collector, 
Stensland,  Dem.,  16,163;  Thoen,  Rep.,  18,860;  Benney,  Prohi- 
bition, 162.  Thoen's  majority,  2,697.  Supervisor,  Kleckner, 
Dem.,  16,966;  Berry,  Rep.,  18,163;  Lindner,  Prohibition, 
152.  Berry's  majority,  1,197.  Clerk,  Frantina,  Dem.,  16,093; 
Walleck,  Rep,  18,957;  Stranderland,  Prohibition,  148.  Wal- 
leck's  majority,  2,864. 

NORTH     TOWN. 

Assessor,  Blair,  Rep.,  6,440;  Chase,  Dem.,  7,745  ;  St.  John, 
Prohibition,  40.  Chase's  majority,  1,305.  Collector,  Schmidt, 
Rep.,  6,828 ;  Tempel,  Dem.,  7,305  ;  Lenin,  Prohibition,  41. 
Tempel's  majority,  457.  Supervisor,  Griebenow,  Rep.,  7,193; 
McCormick,  Dem.,  6,930;  Servoss,  Prohibition,  41.  Griebe- 
now's  majority,  263.  Clerk,  Johnson,  Rep.,  7,145  ;  Lyons,  Dem., 
6,978;  Rogerson,  Prohibition,  59.     Johnson's  majority,  167. 

The  Board  of  Election  Commissioners  was  first  organized 
as  follows  : 

Samuel  B.  Raymond,  whose  term  was  for  two  years  from 
date  of  appointment ;  Daniel  Corkery,  three  years  ;  Francis  A. 
Hoffman,  Jr.,  one  year.  (Mr.  Hoffman  resigned  May  9,  1886, 
and  C.  J.  Cassellman  was  appointed  in  his  stead).  Chief  Clerk, 
Timothy  Crean  (deceased};  Deputy  North  Division,  Charles  W. 
Andrews,  Jr.;  South   Division,    Karl    Haerting;  West   Division, 


35o  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Lawrence  R.  Buckley.  Deputy  for  Town  of  Lake,  William 
Russell. 

The  salaries  of  Election  Commissioners  for  Cook  county 
are  $1,500  and  the  Chief  Clerk  $2,000.  Judges  and  Clerks  of 
Election  and  Official  Ticket-Holders,  $3  per  day,  judges  to  re- 
ceive pay  for  not  exceeding  four  days,  including  registration  and 
election  ;  clerks  to  receive  five  days'  pay.  Expenses  of  city 
election  to  be  paid  by  city,  but  state,  county,  and  general  elec- 
tions to  be  paid  by  county. 

The  law  provides  that  two  of  the  three  Commissioners  shall 
be  selected  by  the  County  Judge,  one  each  from  the  two  leading 
political  parties.  The  board  shall  organize  by  electing  one 
member  Chairman  and  one  Secretary,  each  of  whom  shall  give 
bond  in  the  sum  of  $io,ooo.  Sixty  days  prior  to  an  election  the 
board  shall  choose  three  Judges  of  Election,  who  shall  be  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  householders,  residents  and  voters  in 
the  precinct,  of  good  repute,  who  can  speak,  read  and  write  the 
English  language,  who  are  skilled  in  the  four  fundamental  rules 
of  arithmetic,  and  who  hold  no  public  office  whatsoever,,  unless 
that  of  Notary  Public,  and  who  are  not  candidates  at  the  elec- 
tion for  which  they  are  appointed  to  serve  ;  two  Clerks  of  Elec- 
tion possessing  the  same  qualifications  as  the  Judges,  except  that 
they  need  not  be  householders.  At  least  one  judge  and  one 
clerk  shall  be  selected  from  each  of  the  two  leading  political 
parties.  Judges  and  clerks  are  exempt  from  jury  service  during 
and  for  two  years  after  expiration  of  their  term,  and  after  service 
one  year  they  are  not  obliged  to  serve  as  judges  for  three  years 
following.  The  list  of  judges  shall  be  submitted  to  the  County 
Court  for  confirmation,  and  the  Court  shall  by  public  notice  fix 
a  day  for  hearing  objections  to  their  confirmation.  The  Judges 
of  Election  constitute  the  Board  of  Registry  for  each  precinct. 
The  first  year  they  met  as  such  on  Tuesday,  four  weeks  prior  to 
election,  and  again  on  each  of  the  two  following  Tuesdays,  the 
first  two  meetings  for  registry  of  applicants,  the  last  for  revision 
of  lists.  Meantime  the  clerks  are  required  to  canvass  the  pre- 
cinct, and  the  result  of  their  canvass  is  used  by  the  Board  in  re- 
vising the  registry.  When  that  is  completed  a  public  register  is 
hung  up  at  place  of  registry,  and  the  Election  Commissioners 
shall  cause  copies  of  the  same  to  be  printed  for  use  of  voters  of 
precinct,  and,  if  deemed  necessary,  published  in  newspapers. 
Provision  is  made  for  registering  persons  omitted  or  rejected,  on 
order  of  the  Election  Commissioners  or  of  the  County  Court, 
after  hearing.     General   registration  shall  be  made  prior  to  each 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  359 

Presidential  election,  and  the  applicant  must  personally  appear. 
At  all  other  times  there  is  only  one  day  of  registration. 
Voters  may  put  their  names  on  ballots.  As  a  person's  vote  is 
cast  his  name  on  registry  shall  be  checked.  If  challenged,  he  is 
sworn  to  answer  questions,  and,  after  hearing,  may  be  allowed  to 
vote  or  rejected.  If  rejected,  he  may  afterward  produce  and 
deliver  his  own  affidavit  that  he  is  a  duly  qualified  voter,  sup- 
ported by  affidavit  of  a  registered  voter,  whereupon  his  vote 
shall  be  received.  The  affidavits  and  a  record  of  the  facts  shall 
be  preserved.  No  person  shall  vote  who  is  not  registered  as  a 
qualified  voter.  Public  notice  in  newspapers  of  registration  and 
election  shall  be  given  by  the  board.  Election  day  is  made  a 
legal  holiday.  One  year's  residence  in  the  state,  ninety  days  in 
the  county,  thirty  days  in  the  precinct,  and  citizenship  of  the 
United  States  shall  qualify  a  person  as  a  voter.  Each  political 
party  may  have  a  challenger  at  the  polls  ;  also  at  the  registry. 
During  canvass  of  the  votes  the  challengers  and  watchers  of  the 
canvass,  consisting  of  one  person  designated  in  writing  by  each 
candidate,  shall  be  admitted.  The  whole  number  of  ballots  shall 
first  be  counted,  and  any  excess  above  the  number  on  the  poll 
list  shall  be  drawn  out  and  destroyed.  The  different  kinds  of 
ballots  shall  be  placed  in  separate  piles,  and  then  counted  by 
tens  by  one  judge,  then  handed  to  each  of  the  other  judges,  who 
shall  also  count  same,  when  the  third  judge  shall  call  off  the 
names  and  the  clerks  shall  tally  each  ten  votes.  The  ballots 
shall,  as  soon  as  counted,  be  strung  upon  twine  in  the  order  read 
by  tens.  When  canvass  is  complete  each  judge  in  turn  shall 
proclaim  in  a  loud  voice  the  total  vote  received  by  each  candidate. 
Quadruple  statements  of  the  result  shall  be  made,  one  of  which 
shall  be  written  in  each  of  the  poll  books  used,  and  one  each  sent 
to  the  County  Clerk,  and  one  to  the  Comptroller  of  the  city, 
after  attaching  one  copy  of  each  kind  of  ballot  voted  at  the  elec- 
tion to  each  return.  The  tallies  shall  be  sent  under  seal,  one  to 
the  Election  Commissioners  and  one  to  the  City  Clerk.  The  poll 
books  which  contain  two  of  the  statements  or  returns  shall  be 
placed  in  the  ballot-box  and  locked  and  sealed  with  a  strip  of 
paper  containing  the  names  of  all  the  judges.  One  judge  shall 
take  the  ballot-box,  and  another  of  opposite  politics  the  key. 
Then  the  whole  of  the  ballots,  except  those  pasted  to  the  state- 
ments, shall  be  destroyed,  and  the  meeting  of  judges  and  clerks 
dissolved.  Before  noon  next  day  the  ballot-box  shall  be  deliv- 
ered to  the  Election  Commissioners,  who  shall  receipt  therefor. 
The    key    shall  also  be  delivered  and  receipted  for,  and  the  two 


360  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

judges  not  having  the  ballot-box  and  the  two  clerks  shall  before 
noon  next  day  deliver  the  statements  and  tallies  in  their  possession 
to  the  respective  officer  to  whom  addressed,  and  no  judge  or  clerk 
shall  receive  pay  until  he  produce  the  receipts  for  the  returns  as 
aforesaid.  The  canvassing  board,  composed  of  the  County  Judge, 
City  Attorney,  and  the  board  of  Election  Commissioners  shall 
canvass  and  abstract  the  votes  within  seven  days  after  the  elec- 
tion. A  comprehensive  list  of  penalties  for  election  offenses  is 
enacted. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Board  its  personnel  has  under 
gone  various  changes. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

COMPTROLLER  GURNEY  ON  TAXATION — THE  TOWN  GOVERNMENTS 
AND  ASSESSMENTS TAX  AND  DEBT  PER  CAPITA TABLE,  SHOW- 
ING VALUATION  AND  INCOME,    1 837  TO    1 886 LIST    OF  MAYORS 

OF  CHICAGO LIST  OF  COMPTROLLERS — TABLE,  SHOWING  SCHOOL 

CENSUS  AND  VOTE  BY  WARDS  IN  ALL    ELECTIONS,    1 878  TO   1 886 

TABLE    OF  REGISTRATION    AND  NATIVITY    OF    VOTERS TABLE 

OF  CITY  OCCUPATIONS POPULATION  BY  DIVISIONS POPULATION 

OF  COOK    COUNTY,  SCHOOL    CENSUS    OF     1 886 THE    CITY    HALL 

AND  COUNTY  COURTHOUSE,   ETC. 

In  his  annual  report  on  municipal  finances  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  December  31,  1885,  City  Comptroller  Gurney  had 
the  following  to  say  : 

"  The  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  the  munici- 
pality are  to  be  congratulated  upon  the  wise  distribution  of  our 
income  for  the  past  year,  and  upon  the  general  conservative  pol- 
icy of  subordinate  officers  in  confining  expenditures  within  the 
limits  imposed  by  the  city  Council.  There  is  a  growing  disposi- 
tion, however,  to  go  to  the  Council  for  appropriations  that  do 
not  come  within  the  scope  of  authority  plainly  defined  by  the 
city  charter.  That  instrument  provides  that  appropriations, 
other  than  annual,  shall  not  be  made  except  in  the  event  of  '  cas- 
ualties,' and  not  in  any  other  instance  is  warranted  drafts  upon 
the  treasury,  except  upon  the  contingent  fund,  which  is  held  for 
the  payment  of  claims  that  cannot  be  foreseen  when  the  annual 
budget  is  under  consideration.  Aside  from  the  foregoing,  de- 
mands upon  this  department  otherwise  than  provided  by  law, 
are  constant  menaces  to  the  credit  of  the  city  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  if  persisted  in  will  soon  lead  to  the  disreputable  methods  of 
former  years  in  providing  for  current  expenses.  *  *  *  The 
Revenue  Commission,  provided  for  at  the  last  session  of  the  state 
Legislature,  is  now  at  work  in  an  effort  to  devise  laws  that  shall 
.place  burdens  of  taxation  where  they  legitimately  belong.  This  is 
a  matter  of  vital  importance  to  the  citizen,  and  applies  with  great 
force  to  municipal  governments,  so  much  so  that  we  are  of  the 
opinion  that  the  honorable  body  you  represent  should  give  its 
active  support  to  every  effort  that  is  calculated  to  compel  corpo- 

(36O 


362  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

rations  and  other  capital  to  make  reasonable  contributions  to  the 
general  welfare.  When  this  is  accomplished  the  unrest  of  the 
masses,  who  are  now'  compelled  to  pay  from  their  limited  earn- 
ings an  amount  largely  in  excess  of  equitable  obligations  imposed 
by  taxation,  will  not  find  that  justification  for  complaint  which 
the  present  law  seems  to  warrant.  For  the  past  six  years  the 
reports  from  this  department  have  urged  upon  citizens  attention 
to  this  important  question,  in  the  belief  that  the  Democratic  doc- 
trine (not  in  its  partisan  sense)  insists  that  every  tax-paying  or 
other  citizen  shall  stand  up07i  an  equality  before  the  law.  It  is  to 
be  hoped,  therefore,  that  the  '  Revenue  Commission'  will  report 
a  system  in  entire  vindication  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  accom- 
panied by  such  swift  and  certain  penalties  that  wili  insure  a 
faithful  discharge  of  duty  by  those  employed  in  the  assessment 
of  property  and  collection  of  our  revenues." 

There  are  three  town  governments  having  limited  powers 
which  cover  the  three  city  divisions  of  Chicago.  The  officials 
comprise  an  Assessor,  Collector,  Supervisor  and  Clerk  in  each 
town,  and  these,  together  with  two  Justices  of  the  Peace,  com- 
pose the  "  Town  Board"  which  audits  the  annual  town  accounts. 
The  town  officers  and  full  sets  of  constables  for  service  in  the 
various  Justice  Courts,  are  elected  annually.  Separate  ballot- 
boxes  from  the  city,  state  and  general  elections  are  used,  and  the 
Board  of  Election  Commissioners  now  canvass  the  returns.  All 
taxes  are  levied  and  collected  by  the  Town  Assessors  and  Col- 
lectors. The  reference  in  Comptroller  Gurney's  last  report  to 
inequitable  assessments  is  directed  against  this  system.  For 
many  years  complaints  of  unequal  assessments  have  been  preva- 
lent. At  one  time  the  Citizens'  Association  took  action  looking 
to  the  abolishment  of  the  town  governments  and  the  collection 
of  taxes  by  a  city  or  county  collector  who  should  be  required  to 
give  an  adequate  penal  bond.  A  bill  for  this  purpose  was 
drafted  and  sent  to  the  Legislature,  but  no  action  was  taken. 
The  collectors  of  the  several  towns  formerly  retained  2  per  cent, 
of  collections.  This  was  estopped  by  a  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  but  not  until  the  loss  to  the  public  treasury  had  amounted 
to  a  large  sum.  The  assessment  for  1886  was  declared  by  the 
Board  of  County  Commissioners  to  be  much  too  low,  and  that 
body  ordered  a  new  assessment,  as  authorized  by  law,  and  an* 
effort  was  made  to  have  the  Town  Assessors  indicted  for  mal- 
feasance and  making  false  oath  to  returns.  The  Assessors  re- 
fused to  make  new  assessments  and  gave  as  a  reason  that  the 
law  authorizing  the  County  Board  to  order  a  new  assessment  did 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS. 


365 


not  provide  for  the  expense  of  making  the  same.  At  this  writ- 
ing the  matter  is  held  in  abeyance.  There  are  Committees  of 
Citizens  in  the  three  divisions  of  the  city  organized  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  about  a  reform  in  the  system  of  assessments 
and  abolishing  the  town  governments. 

The  Comptroller's  last  report  contained  the  following  com- 
parative statement,  showing  that  the  tax  and  debt  per  capita  of 
Chicago  as  compared  with  other  cities  is  extremely  low: 


New  York. . 
Philadelphia 

Chicago 

Brooklyn 

Boston 

St.  Louie 

Baltimore. .. 
Cincinnati . . 
Pittsburg — 

Buffalo 

Newark 

Milwaukee. . 
Minneapolis 


Population. 


Census  of 
1880. 


1,  21  16.  •.".)'.  I 
847,171 
50:1,18 

r.t.ii,(ii; 
36-2,839 
350,518 
332.313 

1561389 
155.134 
136,508 
115,587 


EstimVd 
Jan.  1, 

1885. 


1,356.958 
865,000 
630,000 
til  1,526 
396,365 
490,000 
408,520 
300,000 
180,000 
2^3,197 
155,000 
150,000 
115.000 


Total 
Valuation. 


$1,3:38,298  343 
583,612,683 
137,326,980 
317,853,850 
682  648,000 
211,480  710 
249,651,699 
169,925,286 
106,850,162 
104,800,190 
90,98'  550 
74,951,750 
74,310,711 


Total  Taxation 


$  29,991. 

10.791', 
4,K72. 
8.373. 

11.2SS 
3,440 
3,994 
2,718. 
1.709. 
1,723 
1,850. 
1,521 
1,322 


$129, 
64. 
12. 
45! 
43, 

37, 

23 
13. 


al  Debt. 

Tax  per 

Capita. 

229,963  00 

$22  10 

,131, .",62  07 

12  48 

,751,500  00 

7  73 

,277,237  00 

12  99 

,185,669  00 

28  48 

,417,000  00 

8  60 

,513,501  00 

9  77 

.905.207  00 

9  06 

,403,500  00 

9  49 

,860,485  00 

7  72 

,269,000  00 

11  94 

,596,500  00 

10  14 

,461,000  00 

11  52 

Debt 

per 

Capita. 


Note— Population  for  1885  is  the  result  of  inquiries, 
May,  1884. 


that  of   Chicago  from  School  Census  of 


Theodore  T.  Gurney,  City  Comptroller,  who  so- ably  super- 
vised the  financial  affairs  of  the  city  for  upward  of  six  years,  re- 
tired from  office  August  6,  1886,  his  health  being  impaired  by 
overwork.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Charles  H.  Schwab,  junior 
member  of  the  well-known  business  house  of  Selz,  Schwab  &  Co. 


LIST  OF  CITY   COMPTROLLERS. 

In  accordance  with  Section  9  of  an  Act  to  amend  the  Act 
entitled  "An  Act  to  reduce  the  law  incorporating  the  city  of 
Chicago  and  the  several  Acts  amendatory  thereof,  into  one  Act, 
and  to  amend  the  same,"  approved  February  14,  1851,  the  fol- 
lowing named  gentlemen  have  been  appointed  to,  and  filled  the 
office  of  City  Comptroller 

Samuel  D.  Ward, 
S.  S.  Hayes, 
Walter  Kimball, 
George  Taylor, 
A.  H.  Burley,      . 
S.  S.  Hayes, 
J.  A.  Farwell,      . 
Theodore  T.  Gurney, 
Charles  H.  Schwab, 


oiler : 

Appo 
< 

inted  March  19,  1857 

May  19,  1862 

May  8,    1865 

'    December  20,  1869 

February  12,  1872 

December  8,  1873 

June  22,  1876 

May  12,  1879 

July  6,   1886 

364 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


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CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  365 

LIST  OF   MAYORS  OF   THE    CITY   OF    CHICAGO.— DATE  OF   ELECTION. 
—DURATION    OF   TERM. 

Elected  in  accordance  with  Section  4  of  an  Act  to  Incorporate   the  City  of  Chicago, 
approved  March  4,  1837. 

Wm.  B.  Ogden Elected  May      2,  1S37 

Buckner  S.  Morris "  March  6,  1 S38 

Benjamin  W.  Raymond "  "       5,  1839 

Alexander  Lloyd "  "       3,  1840 

Francis  C.  Sherman  , "  "      5,  1S41 

Benjamin  W.  Raymond "  "       7,  1S42 

Augustus  Garrett "  «       7,  1843 

Alson  S.  Sherman «  "      7,  1 844 

Augustus  Garrett "  "      5,1 845 

John  P.  Chapin «  «      3,1846 

James    Curtiss "  "      2,  1847 

James  H.  Woodworth «  "      7,1 848 

«                      «             «  «      6,1849 

James  Curtiss "  "      5,  1850 

Walter  S.  Gurnee .        «  "      4,1851 

"                  "        «  "      2,1852 

Charles  M.  Gray «  «     14,1853 

Isaac  L.  Milliken "  «     13,1854 

Levi  D.  Boone «  "      8,1855 

Thomas  Dyer "  "     10,1856 

John  Wentworth «  "      3,  1857 

John  C.  Haines "  "      2,  1858 

"               «       , «  .     "       1,1859 

John  Wentworth «  «      6,  i860 

Julian  S.  Rumsey "  April  16,  186 1 

Francis  C.  Sherman «  "     15,1862 

«                 «*         (two  year  terms  began) "  "    21,  1863 

"                " "  «     ..,iS64 

John  B.  Rice «  »    18,1865 

"             "      «  «     ..,  1S66 

"             "       "  «     16,1867 

"             "       "  «     ..,1868 

Roswell  B.  Mason "  Nov.    2,  1869 

"                 «      "  «      ..,iSyo 

Joseph  Medill «  «       7,1871 

"             " «  "      ..,1872 

Harvey  D.  Colvin "  "       4,  1 873 

"                 «         «  "      ..,1874 

Mayor  Colvin  held  over  under  the  new  Charter  until  July  12,  1876. 
Thomas  Hoyne  received  a  popular  vote  for  Mayor  of  33,064,  April  18,  1876.  The  out- 
going Council  refused  to  canvass  the  returns.  The  new  Council  canvassed  the  returns  April 
8,  and  declared  Mr.  Hoyne  elected.  He  was  recognized  as  Mayor  by  all  of  the  city  de- 
partments except  the  Comptroller's.  Judge  McAllister  subsequently  decided  his  election 
informal,  the  Mayor  and  Council  not  having  issued  a  call  for  an  election. 

Monroe  Heath  (special  election) July     12,  1876 

"  «       ., April    3,  1S77 

"  «       187S 

Carter  H.  Harrison "       1,  1S79 

Carter  H.  Harrison  was  re-elected  April  5,  1S81 ;  April  3,  18S3;  April  7,  1SS5,  serving 

four  successive  terms. 


366 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


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CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS. 


367 


NATIVITY    OF   THE   VOTERS   OF   CHICAGO. 

Compiled  from  the  registry  books,  where  the  nativity  of 
each  person  registered  is  shown  by  wards.  Among  the  Ameri- 
cans are  included  such  as  were  born  in  this  country,  without  re- 
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613 
1465 
1850 
1035 
555 
220 
256 
251 
292 
351 
2419 
1992 
1527 
308 
660 

287 
249 
313 
381 
2464 
846 
1377 
1564 
45. 
339 
381 
321 
6' 16 
658 
234 
181 
841 
491 

83 
85 

101) 
183 
225 
93 
139 

19H 

135 
64 

18 

3  1 1 
190 
19 

44 
C6 
127 

38 
16 

20 
54 
80 

2^ 
40 
til 

33 

85 

121 
57 
45 
25 
11 
24 
51 

4 
'4 

2 

40 
2 

10 

11 
8 
14 
27 
5 
4 
8 
2 
4 
2 

74 
64 
59 
141 
168 
76 
115 
246 
110 
6 

135 
205 
37 
60 
5rt 

36 
55 
101 

12 

13 

25 
66 
201 
74 
19 
88 
18 
53 

45 
17 
43 

205 

88 
117 
703 

105 

12 
1 
4 

19 
46 
22 

1'. 
13 

191 
145 
22 
56 

5!  12 
28 
111 
60 
22 

5 
4 
13 

18 
13 
15 
8 
4 
13 
31 
28 
17 
34 
17(1 
Id 
15 

18 

2n 

3 

2 
2 

6 
46 

703 
'   88 
283 

'  1 
29 

6 
1 
36 
16 
5 
3 
3 

6 
21 

4 

7 
12 
3.8 

9 
12 

5 

2 
4 
1 
887 
6 
4 

3 

4 

42 
3 
6 
5 
8 

67 
6 
6 

11 
2 
8 
1 

12 

6 
5 

11 
8 

1 

2 
8 

2 

35 
16 
15 
3 
2 
5 

17 
1 

19 
9 
9 
1 
6 

8 

18 
5 
6 

18 
71 
33 
33 
8 
5 
21 
23 
20 
31 
6 
2 
7 
12 

18 
7 
15 
11 
41 
6 
11 
16 
14 
7 

9 
18 

6 

19 
16 
13 

21 
11 

4 
50 
7 
4 
6 
2 
3 
10 
29 
10 
7 
14 
6 
5 
4 

"33 
10 

2 
2 
1 
2 

8 

11 
3 

1 
11 
2 

1 
25 
8 
2 
4 

12 

25 
12 
20 
81 
157 
76 
27 
21 
24 
21 
30 
22 
73 
63 
58 
27 
45 

3044 

2 

3 

4 

5 

5741 

6 

7 

8 

9 

5184 
4S48 
5746 

10  

;'059 

11 

13 

13 

14 

37ii6 

15 

16 

17 

18 

5215 

Totals 

43700 

14566 

1193« 

2411 

852 

'51 

1803 

18  7 

1285 

442 

12:53 

379 

211 

183 

327 

254 

204 

93 

809181611 

There  was  a  light  vote  polled  by  the  Poles,  Bohemians  and 
Scandinavians,  who  had  no  especial  incentive  to  vote,  at  the  next 
ensuing  election  for  Aldermen  in  April,  1886,  and  the  total  vote 
polled  was  14,127  less  than  the  registration. 

The  city  occupations  in  1885  are  classed  as  follows  in  the 
report  of  the  Factory  and  Tenement  House  Inspectors,  which 
was  incorporated  in  the  report  of  the  Health  Department  made 
to  the  City  Council,  March  29,  1886  : 


BUSINESS. 

6 

E  . 

"3  0 

1 

m 

"3 

a 

~  0 
S3 

10"  . 

51 

BUSINESS. 

0  . 

oft 

Eh 

3 

0) 

s 

■iX 

in" 
fl3 

Agricult.  imp 

25 
133 

16 

31 

18 
5 

10 

64 

351 
45 

7 
600 

2094 
460 

105 

139 

225 
45 

200 

1050 

1161 
550 
237 

1552 

2084 
460 

60 

123 

125 
45 

86 

808 

863 
550 
236 
1545 

10 

Barbers'  supplies.. 
Bedding   and   mat- 

11 

27 

8 

1 
7 
15 

265 
5 

20 
1 
35 

160 

835 

25 

103 

86 
27 
425 
29 

730 
31 

510 
55 

910 

149 

2.54 

103 

86 

27 

420 

17 

730 
30 

510 
55 
390 

11 

81 

10 

45 

16 
100 

114 
242 

297 

1 
1 

6 

trusses  

Artists'  material 

Belting   (rubber, 

Awnings,  sails  and 

Bicycles  and  veloe- 

Axle  grease 

Bags    (paper    and 

Bill  posters 

Billiard  tables 

Bird  stores 

Blacksmiths    and 

horseshoers 

Boat  builders 

Boiler  makers  and 

supplies 

"5 
12 

"6 

Bakeries  (mfg.  and 
wholesale) 

12 
25 

10 

14 

Bakeries  and  retail 

1 

7 

15 

Barber-shops 

Bookbinders 

520 

368 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 
CITY    OCCUPATIONS— CONTINUED. 


BUSINESS. 

6   . 

SI 

k 

_  >. 

o  a 
Eh 

ai 

OI 

S 
fa 

Z  ■'■ 

1^ 

jo"  _ 

BUSINESS. 

6  . 

51 

H 

Eh 

3 

£ 

r 

io* 

■-  ■- 
T3 

Booksellers      and 
stationers 

Boots    and     shoes, 
mfg.  A;  wholesale 

145 

67 

887 
6 

4( 
10 

23 

45 
69 

14 

30 
20 

9 

15 
2 

•i 

850 

18 

18 

190 

10 

4 

32 
19 

105 
9 

135 

700 
43 

25 

90 

1146 
520 

84 
45 

800 

48 

420 

48 

31 
6 

5 
25 
21 
5 
2 
9 

16 

K 

2 

900 

1080 

2300 

2050 
17 

337 

844 

912 

1246 
2395 

1982 

198 

248 

230 
8 
22 

18550 
120 
265 
45 
1440 
45 
2'0 
170 
350 

350 
175 

1195 

1912 
3872 

150 

13500 

6920 
1840 
970 
375 

6010 

775 

702 
760 

210 
250 

80 
485 
250 
80 
25 
30 
40 
113 

230 
310 
1510 

905 

1860 

1850 
15 

830 

305 

889 

1246 
2395 

1982 

178 
202 

2i9 

225 
4 

22 

18550 

115 
210 
37 
1410 
45 
200 
160 
290 

453 
92 

940 

1608 
368 

150 

3100 

3708 
1810 
805 

277 

5811 

450 

417 
760 

210 
74 

48 
485 
40 
10 
«5 
30 
85 
113 

230 
310 

175 

440 

200 
2 

539 
83 

20 
23 

12 

23 

12 
13 

25 

33 

Drugs  &  dye  stuffs, 
mfg. and  wholesale 

Druggists 

Dry  goods  and  no- 

50 
39J 

720 
45 

48 
30 
65 
5 

11 
6 
9 

14 

3 

30 

17 

86 

45 
190 

87 
400 

40 

140 

305 

3 

145 

9 

12 

16 
1 
6 
4 

62 
2100 

11 
67 

41 
279 

140 
115 

50 
12 

30 
1 

33 

530 
18 
U 

690 
995 

7530 
210 

550 
475 
340 
1160 

2040 
180 
40 
33 
120 

30 

260 

250 

200 

310 
580 

2960 
2710 

50 

250 

5840 
1450 
1025 

3760 

125 

170 
330 
370 
4  0 

60 
2130 
5230 

20 

70 
310 

7ro 
162; 

690 
1 165 

495 

3*) 
370 

345 
300 
28 
350 

6830 
650 
60 

560 
975 

4630 
160 

460 
475 
330 
1160 

1010 
50 
35 
32 
100 

30 

240 

140 

160 

300 
570 

2905 
2710 

50 

250 

5670 
1370 
1025 

1010 

123 

165 
100 
365 
400 
30 
1960 
4241 
20 

50 
70 

760 
1572 

645 

935 

495 

380 
370 

345 

20 
28 

no 

3870 
650 
60 

130 

20 

2900 
50 

90 

ii 

263 

■-7 

makrs&  retailers 

Dyers  and  scourers 
Electric  apparatus 

and  lights 

Elevators  (grain).. 

Engravers 

Express  companies 
Fancy  and  variety 

goods 

Feather  dusters. .. 

Bottle  dealers 

Bottling  establish- 

Boxes  (paper) 

Brass  founders  and 

tinishers 

Breweries  &  branch 

depots 

10 

1030 

130 

5 

1 

20 

150 

300 

15 

Bridge    and     car 

"3 

Fire  apparatus 

Fire    escapes    and 

stand  pipes 

Fish    depots    and 

packers 

Flavoring   extracts 

and  perfumery. . . 
Florists  &  nurseries 
Flour    man'fg  and 

wholesale 

Flour  and  feed 

Founders  and  iron 

works  

Freighting(marine) 
Frogs, switches  and 

crossings 

Fruits,    green    and 

dried 

Furniture  and  up- 
holstery  

Furniture,  retail  .. 
Gas  companies  — 
Gents'     furnishing 

Brooms  and  broom 

20 
19 

19 

5 
4 

12 
2 

2 

20 

110 
40 

10 
10 

f5 

Burial  cases  and  un- 
dertakers' supTs 

Butterine  and  oleo- 
margarine  

Carpenters      and 

Carpet  cleaners 

5 
55 

8 
30 

"13 

Carpet  weavers 

170 
8U 

81 
14 

Cheese  and  butter. 
Chemical  works. .. 
China,crockery  and 

glassware 

Cigar  boxes 

10 
60 

97 
83 

255 

304 
3504 

"8 

53 

32 
15 

26 

15 
38 

2750 

2 

5 
230 

5u 
30 
170 
990 

4 

ing  and  wholes'le 
Cigar    makers  and 

retailers    

Cloaks  and  suits.. 
Clothes  wringers  & 

laundry  mach'n'y 
Clothing   mfg.  and 

wholesale 

Clothing  makers  & 

Glass,  window  and 
minor 

Glass-stainers    and 
decorators 

Gloves  and  mittens 

.... 

"io 

1041C 

3212 
30 
165 

98 

199 
325 
285 

"l76 
32 

'  210 

20 

107 
4 
17 

25 

18 
10 

4 
5 

""8 

107 
"l5 

45 

"io 

Glue  and  fertilizers 
Gold  and  silver  leaf 
Grocers,  wholesale 

Grocers,  retail 

Gunpowder 

Guns  and  sporting 
goods 

"ii 

"4 

Coffee,  tea  &  spices 
Commercial  agents 

20 

240 

10 
55 

45 
230 

"■; 

"*4 

4 

1 

Hardware  and  ciit- 
lerv,  wholesale  & 
mfg 

Confectioners,  mfg. 

Confectionery    and 
fruit  retailers. . . . 

Hardware,  stoves  & 
tinware,  retail. .. 

Harness,    saddlery 
and  horse  cloth- 

2 

Copper,     tin     and 

Cords  and  tassels.. 

Corks,  bungs    and 

faucets 

Hats,  caps  and  furs 
Heating  and   venti- 
lating apparatus. 
Hides,    tallow   and 

wool 

Hoisting  machines 
Hops,  malt  and  bar- 

Cutlers  and  grindrs 
Dentists1  supplies. 

5 

Hoopskirts 

Horse  nails 

280 
"240 
2960 

10 
10 

Hotels  and  restau- 

Dock  and  ship-yds. 

15 

1510 

Ite  cream  mfg 

CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS. 
CITY   OCCUPATIONS— CONTINUED. 


369 


BUSINESS. 

d   . 

5| 

EH 

a  . 

ID 
S 

a 

ft 

in" 

Z  ?' 
u 

1Q 

l6 

BUSINESS. 

6  . 

51 

Eh 

"3 

4) 

£ 
PR 

in" 
20 

Ink    (writing    and 

11 

3 

3 

300 
200 

9 

13 

2 

3 

590 

9 

30 
2 

25 
26 
200 

48 
230 

133 

16 

55 

1 

996 

40 
410 
12 

225 

41 

280 
16 
10 

47 
290 

135 

27 

19 

8 

15 
50 

310 

9 

20 

80 
1 

39 

8 

8u 

285 

3300 

40 

940 

610 

120 
101 

433 

56.i 

37 

322J 

80 

350 
25 

450 

260 

1220 

165 

6590 
10 

2190 

80 

1440 

5 

2580 

290 
1015 
160 

1450 

1050 

3230 
50 

12200 
1670 

940 
290 

80 
25 

750 
110 

750 

43 

230 

1583 

2140 
60 

80 

285 

3300 

40 

915 

430 

50 
99 

413 
45.1 

37 
1980 

80 

240 
25 

450 
240 
1220 

165 

6590 
8 

2130 

30 

1440 

5 

2330 

29 
900 
160 

450 

1005 

2880 

2° 

11800 
1670 

890 
250 

80 
13 

750 
88 

610 

4. 

185 

1530 
4 

2140 

56 

Plating,       (nickel, 

6 

190 
9 
4 
3 

220 
24 
15 
32 

50 
4 

4 
50 

20 

10 

3300 

6 

9 

53 
12 

8 

6 
2 

14 
30 

70 
8 
2 

17 

5 

37 

5 
9 

22 

56 

15 

20 
1 

32 

47 

93 

18 
9 

12 

40 

1360 

150 

50 

9 

3710 
2>j0 
210 
395 

15500 
4500 

95 
430 

10 
i90 

195 

7560 
50 
30 

2250 
70 
170 

30 
11 10 
165 
4.50 

760 

85 
105 
105 

17 
150 
988 

76 
90 

218 

615 

21 
125 

40 

j  266 
10 

6500 

1500 

600 
25 

510 

750 

476 
483 

217 

493 

30 

40 

1360 
150 

15 
9 

3200 
85 
205 
105 

15500 
4500 

50 
430 

10 
175 

195 

6500 
50 

30 

2250 
70 
17u 

30 
87 
146 
450 

650 

69 
75 
36 
17 
150 
844 

76 
90 

218 

6:5 

11 
105 

40 

1266 
10 

6500 

1200 

350 
14 

410 

460 

322 
479 

214 

348 

25 

Iron,    nails,    steel, 
heavy  hardware.. 

Plumbers  and  gas 

Plumbers'  supplies 

25 

180 
70 

20 
110 

'3 

6 

"20 

35 

Printers  and  Pub- 
lishers   

Provision  dealers.. 

510 

15 

5 

290 

Junk    and    second 
hand  dealers 

embroidery     

Ladders 

Rags  and  old  paper 

Railroads     (steam) 
and  offices 

Railroads  (street).. 

Regalia    and     ban- 
ners   

Lard  and  lard  oil . . 

45 

1240 

13 

Lead    (.pipe,  sheet, 

Ropes  and  twineB . . 

Rubber  goods  

Safes,    doors    and 

locks 

Saloons 

Salt 

"is 

1060 

Leather,  findings  & 
leather  goods 

110 
!!.*20 

"*6 

Lime,   cement  and 

Sand 

125 

Lithographers 

Sash,    doors    and 

blinds 

Saws 

Scientific  i  n  s  t  r  u- 

Macaroni 

60 
50 

Machinists  and  ma- 
chinery   

Map    and     chromo 

Screws 

Seeds 

Sewer  builders 

Sewing      machines 

and  attachments 
Sewing     silk     and 

twist 

Ship  chandlers 

Shoddy 

Shot  factory 

Show-cases 

Soap  and  candles . . 
Springs    (car    and 

13 
19 

printing   and 
mounting 

110 

16 
30 
69 

'  '250 

Meat  markets 

Metals  and  metallic 
goods 

115 

144 

27 

7 

Millinery  and  straw 

1000 
45 
35J 

instruments.  ... 

Newspapers     and 

publishers 

Stereotypers      and 
electrutypers 

Stoves,    mfg.    and 
wholesale    

Stove  polish 

Suspenders 

Syrup  and  molas's. 

Tanks  and  cisterns. 

Tanners    and    cur- 

""2 

10 
20 

Oyster  depots 

Packing  and    can- 
ning meat 

5 
400 

Paints,     oils     and 

50 
40 

Paper  dealers 

Patterns  and  mod- 

Tanners'1  supplies.. 
Teaming    and    bus 

Patterns  (paper). .. 
Paving    and   street 

12 

Telegraph  and  tel- 
ephone Co's 

Theatres     and 
amusements 

300 

250 
11 

100 

290 

154 
4 

3 

145 

Pawnbrokers 

Photographers  and 

22 

140 

45 

50 
2 

4 

3"> 

Tin,   stamped    and 
japanned  ware... 

T.  bacco,  smoking 
Chewing  and  leaf 

Toys     and      fancy 

ratus  and  Buppl's 

Pickles,     preserves 

and  fruits 

17 

ia 

2 

59 

3 

Pipes  (smoking). .. 

Turning  wood  and 

box  lactones 

Plaster    work   and 

Type       and      type 
founders 

Umbrellas  and  par- 
asols   

30 

24 


37o 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 
CITY    OCCUPATIONS— CONTINUED. 


Undertakers 

Varnish  

Vault  and  sky  lights 

Veneers 

Vinegar 

Wall    paper    .1  n  d 

window  shades.. 
Warehouses      and 

Btorage 

Watch  cases 


6 

s  . 

m 

«o" 

iO" 

-  a 

■ 

DO 

O 

H 

-  » 

"- 

cfe 

C5 

E3  "" 

Eh 

H 

p 

105 

295 

2S5 

10 

\ 

8 

i;i; 

85 

1 

\ 

8 

4-1 

44 

4 
19 

21  i 

170 

2(i 
170 

\ 

8 

40 

890 

275 

15 

\ 

20 

130 

130 

12 

in 

160 

10 

1 

Whips 

Willow  and   wood 

en  ware 

Wines  and  liquors, 


Wirt- goods 

Wood  carpets . . 

Woolen  and    linen 

goods,  trimmings 

Yeast 


A  summary  of  the  above  table  shows  that  it  includes  31,186 
firms,  with  254,149  persons;  it  does  not  include  800  boarding- 
houses,  30  lodging-houses,  2,800  licensed  peddlers,  46  employ- 
ment offices,  950  insurance,  real-estate  and  loan  agencies,  14  de- 
tective agencies,  40  civil  and  mechanical  engineers,  1,600  law 
firms,  1,300  physicians,  225  dentists,  63  veterinary  surgeons,  173 
midwives,  the  officers  and  employes  of  political,  religious,  be- 
nevolent, and  other  public  institutions,  nor  does  it  take  account  of 
domestic  service.  Wholesale  trade  employs  about  50,000,  man- 
ufacturing 75,000,  transportation  about  25,000  persons,  and  there 
are  about  20,000  small  shops  and  stores  with  more  than  100,000 
persons  at  retail  trade  and  custom  work. 

POPULATION  BY  DIVISIONS,  SHOWING  INCREASE,  JUNE,  1876,  TO  JUNE,  1886. 


NORTH    DIVISION. 


J'e,   1876. J J'e,  1878.1  Increase.  IJ'e,    1880.' J'e,  1882.1  Increase.  I J'e,  1884. 1 J'e,   1886.1  Increase. 
80,348    |   88,000    |     7,652     |    99,513    I  112,281  |    12,768    |  128,490    |  138,513  |    10,023 

SOUTH  DIVISION. 

104,768  |  111,116  |  6,348  |  122,032  |  135,642  |  13,610  |  149,564  |  173,421  |  23,857 

WEST  DIVISION. 

222,545  j  237,606  |    15,061    |  269,971    |  312,770  |   42,799    |  35L931  |  391,883  |    39,952 

TOTAL  CITY  POPULATION  AND  INCREASE. 

407,661  |  436,731  |  29,061  |  491,516  |  560,693  |  69,177  |  629,985  |  703,817  |  73,832 


Showing  that  the  ratio  of  increase  is  greater  as  the  city 
grows  larger.  Grand  total  increase  in  ten  years,  296,156.  The 
increase  and  decrease  by  city  wards  between  1884  and  1886  was 
as  follows  : 


Wards. 

Increase. 

Wards. 

Increase. 

Wards. 

Increase. 

-t 

3,945 

2,860 
2,209 
3.876 
10,967 
11,700 

rv 

1,165 

3,588 

2,428 

*1,743 

2,062 

7,478 

13 

2,197 

2  . . 

8 

14 

12,098 

3 

9. . . 

15 

5,227 

4     . 

10. .. 

16 

1,197 

5. . . 

11 

17 

*498 

6 

12 

18 

4,091 

Total 73,832. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  371 

School  census  of  city  of  Chicago,  1886,  in  detail : 


White. 

Colored. 

Mon- 
golian. 

WARDS. 

S 

I 

S 

*c3 
S 

"is 

0 
h 

1..  . 

10,080 
9,306 
8,913 
17,560 
39,044 
34,358 
24,066 
22,532 
14,283 
9,461 
13,813 
20,631 
13,852 
47,531 
22,220 
15,536 
15.891 
16,365 

5,219 
7,747 
10,061 
20,531 
37,334 
32,181 
23,152 
22,251 
8,997 
6,950 
14,515 
22,738 
13,785 
45,824 
22,928 
15,678 
14,807 
14,761 

676 

1,662 

666 

739 

375 

19 

21 

27 

160 

86 

128 

102 

305 

47 

15 

7 

22 

63 

201 

1,146 

559 

783 

369 

10 

21 

36 

168 

64 

124 

100 

328 

39 

19 

10 

22 

100 

63 

46 

13 

14 

21 

8 

7 

34 

45 

21 

24 

9 

6 

35 

13 

14 

11 

28 

2 
1 
2 
5 
1 
0 
2 
0 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
2 

0 
2 
1 
0 

16  241 

2 

20  208 

3 

11,214 
39  614 

4 

5 

76  144 

6 

66,576 
47  272 

7 

8 

44  880 

9 

23,653 
16  586 

10 

11 

28,606 
43,580 
28  275 

12 

13 

14 

93  478 

15 

45,195 
31,247 
30,754 
31,317 

16 

17 

18 

Total 

355,382 

338,479 

5,123 

4,399 

412 

22 

703,817 

There  are  141,855  white  males  and  144,170  females  under 
21  years  of  age;  colored,  2,012  males  and  1,132  females  under 
that  age  ;  of  the  Chinese  28  are  under  21  ;  attending  other  than 
public  schools,  29,231  ;  number  between  ages  of  12  and  21  una- 
ble to  read  or  write,  471. 

School  census  of  1886  for  the  various  school  districts  in 
Cook  county  outside  of  the  city,  with  receipts  and  expenditures 
of  school  funds  : 


Districts. 


Rich 

Bloom 

Bloom,  frac 

Orland 

Bremen 

'I  hornton 

Thornton,  frac .  . 

Lemont 

Palos 

Worth 

Calumet 

South  Chicago. . 

Lyons 

Lyons  and  Lake 


Population. 


1885. 


,462 
,190 
202 
,154 

,684 
,875 
911 
,490 
,159 
,314 
,109 
,827 
,246 
,448 


1886. 


1,444 

1,275 

213 

1,223 

1,630 

2,867 

913 

5,452 

1,076 

2,806 

17,128 

12,893 

3,603 

1,400 


1886. 


Expenditures. 


3,157  12 

4,862  72 

1,056  98 

4,281  44 

4,215  13 

12,757  60 

3,659  81 

14,569  49 

4,499  25 

20,580  20 

77,101  74 

64,867  22 

21,477  20 

30,082  17 


Receipts. 


$    2 


812  01 

3,715  97 

966  29 

3,569  56 

3,677  39 

9,607  57 

2,873  05 

10,135  58 

3,724  10 

18,183  17 

69,762  46 

60,624  23 

17,516  69 

24,569  18 


372 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 
SCHOOL  CENSUS  OF  18S6-CONTINUED. 


Districts. 


Lake  and  Hyde  Park 

Proviso 

Cicero 

Chicago 

Leyden 

Jefferson 

Lake  View 

Hanover 

Schaumberg 

Elk    Grove 

Maine 

Niles 

Evanston 

Barrington 

Palatine 

Wheeling 

Northfield 

New   Trier 

Glencoe 

YVinnetka 

Total 


Population. 


1885. 


52,000 

M,s;,:; 

10,699 

629,985 

1,577 

16,754 

21,489 

1,414 

772 

1,050 

2,699 

2,670 

7,285 

1,556 

2,064 

2,161 

2,154 

1,222 

565 

964 


772,705 


1880. 


65, 

■5. 

11 

703, 

1 

17; 

28: 

13 

1 
2 

2 
10 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 


739 

040 
733 
817 
766 
249 
55:5 
383 
766 
192 
879 
535 
088 
516 
976 
136 
904 
847 
564 
904 


929,798 


ISSfi. 


Expenditures. 


$  546,435  02 

26,807  44 

94,0(11!  85 

1,363,955  96 

4,582  55 

95,135  69 

169,352  92 

5,605  53 

1,531  44 

2,282  28 

9,402  66 

3,693  26 

69,579  18 

6,910  90 

5,995  35 

7,776  76 

3,526  84 

7,167  28 

2,908  75 

3,814  71 


$2,697,709  44 


Receipts 


$450,689  69 

22,71')  32 

73,819  15 

1,362,:;:!!)  7s 

3,287  41 

83,257  46 
145,59!)  36 
4,830  59 
1,326  52 
1,588  56 
7,850  36 
3,498  95 

51,256  81 
5,160  14 
4,602  75 
5,252  80 
3,243  17 
6,026  48 
1,971  32 
3,814  71 


12,503,642  4s 


THE  CITY  HALL  AND  COUNTY  COURTHOUSE. 

The  Illinois  Legislature  passed  a  bill  October  21,  1871,  ap- 
propriating the  sum  of  $2,950,340,  to  be  known  as  "The  Canal 
Redemption  Fund,"  which  bill  was  devised  and  the  amount  ap- 
propriated to  reimburse  the  city  for  the  amount  expended  on 
the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  and  to  place  a  portion  of  the 
funds  at  the  disposal  of  the  city  immediately  after  the  calamity 
of  the  great  fire.  Of  the  amount  thus  appropriated,  $600,000 
were  set  apart  for  the  construction  of  the  city's*  part  of  the  City 
Hall  and  Courthouse.  A  contract  was  entered  into  between 
the  county  and  the  city  August  28,  1872,  for  the  construction  of 
a  Courthouse  and  City  Hall  combined,  in  the  public  square, 
the  city  to  pay  for  and  own  the  west  half  of  the  building  and  the 
county  the  east  half,  the  whole  to  be  uniform  in  its  general  ap- 
pearance. Competitive  plans  were  invited  ;  a  number  were  sub- 
mitted, and  premiums  were  awarded  on  three  of  them.  One  of 
these  designs,  known  as  the  "  Eureka,"  was  adopted  by  the  city 
and  county  in  1873.  The  county  took  steps  toward  the  con- 
struction of  its  portion  of  the  building,  but  the  city,  owing  to  a 
deficiency  of  funds  caused  by  the  Gage  defalcation  and  other  in- 
debtedness, was  not  ready  to  co-operate.  The  right  of  the 
county  to  proceed  with  its  portion  of  the  work  was  questioned 
and  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  courts,   which  sustained  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  373 

county's  right  to  proceed,  and  the  Courthouse  was  duly  com- 
menced. 

On  the  14th  of  June,  1872,  the  City  Council  passed  an  or- 
der authorizing  the  then  existing  Board  of  Public  Works  to  ad- 
vertise for  competitive  plans,  specifications  and  estimates  of  cost, 
the  successful  competitor  to  receive  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars  from  the  contingent  fund.  In  accordance  with  this  order, 
the  Board  advertised  on  the  16th  of  November  of  the  same  year, 
jointly  with  the  Board  of  Cook  County  Commissioners,  for  com- 
petitors to  submit  their  plans  not  later  than  the  15th  of  March, 
1873,  and  stated  that  the  Building  Committee  of  the  Board  of 
Cook  County  Commissioners,  the  City  Council  and  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  should  be  the  judges  of  the 
merits  of  the  plans  submitted.  The  gentlemen  who  were  thus 
constituted  judges  were  Samuel  Ashton,  John  Crawford,  Joseph 
Haines  and  J.  H.  Pahlman,  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  ;  S. 
S.  Gardner,  M.  B.  Bailey,  Michael  Schmitz,  David  Coey  and 
Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  of  the  City  Council ;  and  the  Board  of  Public 
Works,  consisting  of  W.  H.  Carter,  Redmond  Prindiville  and  J. 
K.  Thompson.  Disagreements  sprang  up  between  the  City 
Council  and  the  County  Board.  Architect  Matz  and  Architect 
Tilley  both  considered  themselves  under  the  action,  of  the  Coun- 
cil entitled  to  the  first  prize,  and  consequently  the  superintend- 
ency  of  the  construction  of  the  building ;  a  long  controversy  fol- 
lowed, with  the  result  that  the  claims  of  neither  were  recognized. 
The  preparation  of  all  the  necessary  plans  and  specifications  for 
the  erection  of  the  new  City  Hall  was  intrusted  to  Mr.  J.  J. 
Egan,  by  an  agreement  entered  into  by  that  gentleman  with  the 
Department  of  Public  Works,  in  September,  1877. 

June  25,  1877,  Aid.  Stewart  had  presented  a  preamble  and 
resolutions  concerning  the  construction  of  the  City  Hall,  in  which 
it  was  set  forth  that  whereas  the  city  had  used  the  $600,000  set 
apart  from  the  canal  redemption  fund  as  a  special  fund  for  the 
building  of  a  City  Hall,  in  anticipation  of  the  collection  of  rev- 
enue for  ordinary  purposes ;  and  whereas  of  the  taxes  the  reve- 
nue of  which  was  anticipated,  large  sums  had  been  collected,  and 
by  a  fair  and  equitable  apportionment  thereof,  $160,000  or  more 
were  justly  credited  to  the  Building,  or  City  Hall  fund,  and  could 
not  be  again  legally  diverted,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Mayor  and  Comptroller  be  instructed  to 
hold  and  retain  in  the  treasury  such  sum  of  the  back  taxes  as 
might  properly  be  credited  and  apportioned  to  the  City  Hall 
fund. 


374  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  County  Board  having  adopted  the  design  for  a  build- 
ing, the  plan  of  which  represented  a  dome  in  the  center,  between 
the  county  and  city  wings,  the  City  Council  on  August  9,  adopt- 
ed a  resolution  directing  the  Corporation  Counsel  to  serve  legal 
notice  on  the  County  Commissioners,  and,  if  necessary,  to  en- 
join them  from  erecting  any  dome  or  any  part  of  one  on  the 
city's  portion  of  the  public  square.  August  27  Mayor  Heath 
reported  to  the  Council  that  there  was  then  in  the  treasury  $74,- 
018.88  to  the  credit  of  the  Building  fund,  and  $16,434.70  to  the 
credit  of  the  City  Hall  fund,  all  of  which  might  be  applied  on 
the  construction  of  the  new  City  Hall.  September  3  the  Coun- 
cil adopted  a  resolution  acknowledging  the  obligation  of  the  city 
to  make  good  as  fast  as  possible  the  entire  City  Hall  fund, 
amounting  in  the  appropriation  bill  of  1874,  to  $661,000.  Un- 
der the  supervision  of  a  joint  committee,  assisted  by  Mr.  Rolph, 
Secretary  of  the  Building  Inspection  Department,  and  L.  D. 
Cleveland,  Superintendent  of  Buildings,  work  on  the  building 
was  commenced.  New  plans  were  procured  from  Mr.  Egan,  at 
a  cost  of  $4,000.  Mr.  Tilley  did  not  forego  his  claim  to  be  the 
City  Architect,  and  made  a  demand  upon  the  city  and  county 
jointly  for  $72,400.30  for  his  "Eureka"  plan,  and  $37,500  for  com- 
promise plans,  acted  on  by  the  Council  January  13,  1876.  Mr. 
Tilley  asked  payment  of  $20,000  on  account,  and  the  Committee 
on  Public  Buildings  in  a  report  to  the  Council,  October  17,  1877, 
denied  that  his  claim  was  just  or  legal  on  the  ground  that  the 
architects  of  the  city  and  county  could  not  agree,  and  that  the 
County  Board  refused  to  concur  in  the  proposed  compromise. 
December  3,  1877,  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  announced 
to  the  Council  that  they  had  made  contracts  for  the  foundation 
of  the  building  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $50,804,  and  that  the 
building  would  be  constructed  without  a  dome,  thereby  saving 
the  city  from  an  unnecessary  expense,  of  $500,000.  March  18. 
1878,  the  Council  authorized  the  Department  of  Public  Works 
and  the  Building  Committee  to  advertise  for  bids  for  the  mason, 
cut  stone  and  iron  work  for  the  building. 

The  contract  for  excavating  for  the  foundations  was  with 
John  Stockley  ;  for  the  foundations  with  Mortimer  &  Tapper; 
for  iron  work  with  P.  J.  Sexton  ;  for  mason  work  with  John 
Angus  ;  for  stone  with  Tomlinson  &  Reed. 

August  12,  1878,  the  Council  adopted  a  resolution  directing 
the  Mayor  to  obtain  from  Tomlinson  &  Reed,  the  stone  con- 
tractors, a  proposition  setting  forth  for  what  consideration  they 
would  substitute  Lemont  limestone  for   Bedford   stone   in   the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  375 

building,  and  ordering  a  suspension  of  work  until  further  orders 
of  the  Council. 

August  15  Tomlinson  &  Reed  submitted  a  communication 
stating  that  they  would  demand  to  make  the  required  change, 
the  sum  of  $979,584  for  the  entire  work,  or  the  sum  of  $501,891 
in  excess  of  the  contract  price  of  their  contract,  which  was  $477,- 
693.  They  maintained  that  this  proposition  did  not  invalidate 
their  original  contract,  and  represented  that  if  the  change  was 
made  they  must  have  an  extension  of  time  in  order  to  make  the 
necessary  arrangements  with  Edwin  Walker,  who  owned  the  only 
quarry  from  which  Lemont  limestone  of  the  necessary  thick- 
ness could  be  procured. 

August  19  the  Committee  on  Judiciary  to  whom  the  propo- 
sition was  referred,  reported,  recommending  that  it  be  rejected, 
and  the  communication  placed  on  file.  The  report  was  con- 
curred in. 

Work  on  the  building  was  suspended  for  a  time,  and  the 
Bedford  stone  was  denounced  by  members  of  the  County  Board 
and  the  press,  as  worthless,  liable  to  discolor  and  chip  to  pieces 
under  the  effects  of  our  climate,  and  it  was  maintained  by  many 
that  the  City  Hall  would  be  an  unsightly  pile,  and  would  not  in 
any  manner  be  similar  to  or  a  fitting  annex  to  the  county's  por- 
tion of  the  building.  Tomlinson  &  Reed  had  agreed  in  their 
contract  to  do  all  of  their  stone  cutting  in  Chicago  unless  in  the 
event  of  a  general  strike  among  the  stone  cutters.  It  was 
charged  that  they  were  avoiding  this  provision  of  their  contract. 
The  labor  unions  took  up  the  matter  and  discussed  it  at  their 
meetings  and  brought  it  before  the  Council.  This  added  to  the 
general  dissatisfaction,  and  demands  were  made  on  all  sides  for 
an  entire  cessation  of  work  on  the  building.  May  12,  1879,  a 
committee  appointed  at  a  mass  meeting  of  citizens  to  make  an 
examination  of  the  stone  being  used  presented  a  communication 
condemning  it  to  the  Council.  This  communication  was  referred 
to  a  select  committee  composed  of  Aldermen  Lawler,  Grannis, 
Stauber,  Ballard  and  Meyer,  appointed  by  the  Chair.  May  26, 
Aid.  Lawler,  of  this  committee,  reported,  asking  that  they  be 
allowed  to  call  to  their  assistance  two  architects,  two  builders 
and  two  stone  cutters,  but  the  request  was  not  granted.  Aid. 
Ballard,  however,  presented  a  resolution,  which  was  adopted, 
authorizing  the  Mayor  to  appoint  a  committee  of  five  experts  to 
assist  the  building  committee  in  investigating  the  condition  of 
the  new  building.  The  Committee  on  Buildings  met  with  these 
experts  and  after  a  thorough  examination,  a  majority  of  the  com- 


376  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

mittee  reported  to  the  Council  that  no  serious  defects  had  been 
found,  and  recommending  the  acceptance  of  the  work  as  far  as  it 
had  progressed.  Aid.  Riordan  as  a  minority  of  the  committee 
submitted  a  counter  report.  September  1  the  Committee  on 
Public  Buildings  reported,  recommending  that  the  proposition  of 
Tomlinson  &  Reed  to  substitute  granite  columns  from  the  same 
quarry  as  the  columns  for  the  county  building  were  taken,  in 
lieu  of  the  blue  Bedford  stone  columns,  for  the  sum  of  $108,500, 
be  accepted.  September  8,  after  a  contest  in  the  Council,  the 
recommendation  of  the  committee  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  19 
to  16.  This  action  was  vetoed  by  the  Mayor  at  the  next  meet- 
ing. Tomlinson  &  Reed  then  proposed,  on  account  of  their  in- 
ability to  furnish  blue  Bedford  stone  large  enough  for  the  col- 
umns, to  deduct  $21,797.28  from  their  contract  price  of  construc- 
tion. November  24  the  Council  passed  an  order  for  the  pay- 
ment of  $1,000  to  the  experts  for  their  services.  In  a  message 
to  the  Council  May  10,  1880,  Mayor  Harrison,  referring  to  cer- 
tain combinations  discovered  as  existing  between  city  contract- 
ors, had  the  following  to  say  in  reference  to  the  proposed  sub- 
stitution of  granite  for  blue  Bedford  stone  for  the  columns  and 
pilasters  : 

Still  another  combination  was  discovered  and  routed.  This 
was  on  the  substitution  of  granite  for  Bedford  stone  for  the  col- 
umns and  pilasters  on  the  new  City  Hall.  In  the  early  part  of 
last  summer  the  City  Hall  contractors  proposed  to  the  building 
committee  to  furnish  granite  columns  and  pilasters  for  the  sum 
of  $108,000  in  addition  to  their  existing  contracts,  and  subse- 
quently the  committee  recommended  the  acceptance  of  the  prop- 
osition to  the  Council.  The  recommendation  was  concurred 
in  ;  but,  being  satisfied  that  the.  matter  had  been  hastily  consid- 
ered, I  sent  in  a  veto.  The  Council  then  adopted  a  resolution 
directing  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works  to  enter  into  nego- 
tiations with  the  contractors,  and,  in  accordance  therewith,  he 
held  several  interviews  with  the  gentlemen,  but  finding  that  they 
were  disposed  to  adhere  to  the  figures  recommended  by  the 
Council,  he  declined  to  make  terms  with  them,  and  discontinued 
the  negotiations.  The  Commissioner  and  myself  took  the 
ground  that  granite  pilasters  were  not  desirable,  considering 
the  difference  in  price,  and  that  the  dark  Bedford  stone  in  con- 
trast with  the  granite  columns  would  look  as  well,  if  not  better, 
than  granite  pilasters.  The  result  was  that  on  the  4th  of  De- 
cember last  the  Commissioner  and  myself  succeeded  in  entering 
into  an  agreement  with   the  contractors  to    furnish  granite  col- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  ^JJ 

limns  of  the  same  quality  and  exactly  like  those  on  the  county 
side  for  $37,000,  thus  securing  a  saving  to  the  city  of  $71,000 — 
the  difference  between  $108,000  and  $37,000.  The  same  rate  of 
payment  would  have  procured  granite  pilasters  for  $23,000,  which, 
added  to  the  columns  ($37,000),  would  make  $60,000 — a  saving 
of  $48,000  to  the  city,  over  the  contract  directed  by  the  Council. 

September  19,  1880,  the  Council  passed  an  order  directing 
the  superintending  architect,  Alexander  Kirkland,  to  report  con- 
cerning the  condition  of  the  walls  of  the  new  building,  and  in 
accordance  with  this  order  Mr.  Kirkland  reported  the  walls  to  be 
in  good  condition,  and  that  the  settling  of  the  building  was 
bringing  the  floor  levels  even  with  those  of  the  county  building 
on  account  of  a  wise  precaution  of  allowing  four  inches  for  set- 
tlement when  the  walls  of  the  city  building  were  going  up. 
July  31,  1882,  Commissioner  Cregier,  of  the  Department  of 
Public  Works,  reported  to  the  Council  that  the  amount  of  money 
paid  and  to  be  paid,  to  contractors  for  extras  in  the  way  of 
work  and  material  was  to  John  Angus  for  extra  brick  work,  and 
Tomlinson  &  Reed  for  extra  stone  work,  $4,860.38 ;  extras 
claimed  by  Tomlinson  &  Reed,  but  not  allowed,  $4,368.50.  In 
addition  there  was  a  claim  made  by  John  Angus  for  $55,000  for 
losses  occasioned  by  loss  of  time,  by  reason  of  orders  of  the  city 
suspending  work,  and  by  changes  of  plans.  March  12,  1883, 
Aid.  Hildreth  presented  and  the  Council  adopted  a  resolution  re- 
questing the  Law  Department  to  draft  and  present  to  the  state 
Legislature  an  act  exempting  a  tax  for  construction  of  city  halls 
from  the  two  per  cent,  limitations.  In  April,  1883,  Aid.  Geohe- 
gan  introduced  a  resolution  instructing  the  Commissioner  of 
Public  Works  to  negotiate  with  the  County  Board  for  an  offer 
to  purchase  the  new  City  Hall.  It  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Public  Buildings,  and  afterward  placed  on  file. 

The  following  figures  from  the  county  records  show  the  en- 
tire cost  of  the  Courthouse,  or  county  portion  of  the  building  : 

Amount  paid  by  County  Board  up  to 

January  1,  1882,  ....  $2,319,749.00 

Estimate    of     cost   to  make   repairs  at 

rotunda  same  as  New  City  Hall,  -  -         25,519.00 

Harms'  claim    paid  since,         -  72,000.00 

Egan's  claim  paid  since,  -  3,50000 

Hinsdale-Doyle  Granite  Co.     -        -  -           3,900.00 

$2,424,668.00 


378  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

In  a  report  to  the  Council  March  16,  1885,  Supervising 
Architect  Kirkland,  of  the  City  Building  Department,  gave  the 
following  figures  on  the  cost  of  the  City  Hall  : 

Amount  paid  by  the  city  up  to   January 

1,  1885, $1,496,973.88 

Due  on  contracts  let  but  not  completed,  -         52,464.20 

Estimate  cost  of  finishing  entrances  from 
Washington,  Randolph  and  La  Salle 
streets;  frescoing  walls,  etc.,  -  57,600.00 

Finishing     the    rooms    now   unoccupied 

(est). 35,000.00 

$1,642,038.08 


The  total  cost  upon  completion  was  $1,800,000. 

In  connection  with  the  construction  of  the  County  Building 
there  were  charges  made  of  extravagance  on  the  part  of  the 
County  Board,  and  the  "Farmer"  Harms'  claim  and  Egan's 
claim  became  quite  celebrated  legal  cases.  Later  on  Contractor 
P.  J.  Sexton  had  claims  of  $180,000  against  the  county  and  about 
$55,000  against  the  city,  which  he  won  after  carrying  on  a  legal 
fight  in  various  courts,  and  in  estimating  the  total  cost  of  the 
county  Courthouse  the  $180,000  claim  should  be  included. 

The  removal  of  the  various  city  departments  from  the  "  Old 
Rookery"  at  the  corner  of  Adams  and  La  Salle  streets,  .which 
had  been  occupied  since  its  construction  after  the  great  fire  of 
1871,  began  January  1,  1884,  an<^  continued  until  May,  when  all 
were  installed  in  new  quarters.  The  "Rookery"  lot  was  leased 
to  a  syndicate  for  a  long  term  of  years,  and  an  immense  office 
building  is  in  progress  of  construction  thereon. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SOCIALISM    AND  ANARCHISM    IN    CHICAGO — THE    MILITIA    LAW     AND 

SUPREME  COURT  DECISIONS THE  HAYMARKET  MASSACRE THE 

ANARCHIST    TRIALS SCENES    IN    COURT THE    EVIDENCE THE 

VERDICT BIOGRAPHIES    OF     NOTED    POLITICIANS TABLES    OF 

CONGRESSMEN,  SHERIFFS,  AND  LEGISLATORS    ELECTED    IN    COOK 

COUNTY NATIONAL    POLITICS    AND    TABLES     OF    PRESIDENTIAL 

VOTES REVISED  STATUTES  RELATING  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT    OF 

CHICAGO,    ETC.,  ETC. 

One  of  the  most  startling  and  bloody  episodes  in  the  history 
of  any  American  city  was  the  Chicago  Haymarket  massacre,  on 
the  night  of  May  4,  1886,  in  which,  by  the  explosion  of  a  dynam- 
ite bomb,  thrown  by  Anarchists,  seven  police  officers  were 
killed  and  sixty  wounded,  and  many  attendants  at  the  Anarchist 
meeting  in  the  old  Haymarket,  at  the  intersection  of  West  Ran- 
dolph and  Desplaines  streets,  were  killed  and  wounded  by  the 
return  fire  of  the  police.  For  several  years  prior  to  the  labor 
riots  of  1877  secret  meetings  of  armed  groups  of  Socialists,  as  all 
would-be  extremists  in  social  reforms  were  then  called,  had  been 
held  in  Chicago.  The  Socialists  endeavored  to  take  advantage 
of  the  labor  troubles  to  incite  riot,  and  the  city  police  force  by 
their  prompt  action  in  dispersing  an  incendiary  meeting  in  the 
Voerwaerts  Turner  Hall  incurred  the  enmity  of  the  Socialists. 
In  the  spring  of  1879  the  Socialists  united,  Anarchists  and  all, 
in  support  of  a  ticket  in  the  municipal  election,  polling  over 
10,000  votes  for  Dr.  Ernst  Schmidt  for  Mayor,  and  Frank  Stau- 
ber,  a  Socialist  Alderman,  for  City  Treasurer,  and  electing  sev- 
eral representatives  in  the  City  Council,  as  has  already  been 
shown.  It  is  but  fair  to  the  Socialists  to  state  that  their  leaders 
maintain  that  their  ends  and  aims  are  entirely  dissimilar  to  those 
of  the  Anarchists,  but  as  the  latter  are  all  primarily  Socialists  and 
hold  that  Socialistic  doctrines  are  similar  to  their  own,  and  that 
they  are  only  different  from  the  Socialists  in  that  they  believe  in 
the  adoption  of  violence  and  extreme  measures,  the  more  speedily 
to  bring  about  so-called  social  reforms,  they  are  grouped  to- 
gether for  the  purpose  of  convenience  in  the  narration  of  the  An- 
archist movement,   and   its   culmination.     While   the    Socialists 

(379) 


380  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

number  many  intelligent  men  having  definite  and  to  some  extent 
reasonable  views  of  changes  in  the  social  system  which  they 
would  like  to  see  inaugurated,  the  doctrines  of  the  Anarchists,  as 
developed  by  the  harangues  of  their  leaders,  tend  only  to  chaos 
and  the  complete  subversion  of  government,  and  the  rights  of 
property.  There  were  armed  groups  of  Anarchists  in  Chicago, 
similar  to  the  Communists  of  Paris,  calling  themselves  Socialists, 
in  1878.  Among  them  at  this  time  were  several  companies  of 
the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein,  the  Bohemian  Sharpshooters,  and 
independent  groups.  They  paraded  the  streets  with  arms  and 
carried  red  flags,  and  their  agitators  made  incendiary  speeches  in 
the  Lake  Park,  Market  Square,  and  at  Greif's  Hall,  54  West 
Lake  street,  and  other  places  of  similar  resort.  The  dangerous 
character  of  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein  has  been  known  in  Chi- 
cago for  at  least  seven  years.  Its  officers  are  in  the  main  exiled 
foreign  political  agitators,  and  its  membership  is  composed  in  the 
main  of  a  low  and  ignorant  class  of  Germans,  Austrians,  Bavar- 
ians, Hungarians  and  Bohemians,  with  a  few  fanaticists  from 
other  nationalities.  On  the  night  of  July  1,  1879,  Captain  Frank 
Bielfeld  marched  out  of  the  West  Twelfth  Street  Turner  Hall  at 
the  head  of  ten  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein  men,  turning  east  on 
Twelfth  to  Union,  going  south  100  yards  or  so,  and  then  return- 
ing. Lieut.  Callahan  saw  them,  and  went  to  the  hall,  where  he 
met  Harry  Rubens,  attorney,  representing  the  Lehr  und  Wehr 
Verein,  who  said  that  was  enough,  meaning  that  he  was  willing 
to  have  the  eleven  arrested  as  per  an  arrangement  he  had  made 
with  Mayor  Harrison  for  the  purpose  of  trying  a  test  case  on 
the  charge  of  violating  the  militia  law.  Only  Bielfeld's  name 
and  address  were  taken,  and  Rubens  became  responsible  for  his 
appearance  before  Justice  Walsh  at  the  West  side  Police  Court 
the  morning  of  July  2,  1879.  Bielfeld  took  a  change  of  venue  to 
Morrison  and  gave  his  own  recognizance  for  $100  to  come  in  at 
4  P.  M.  At  that  hour  Prosecuting-Attorney  Cameron,  Rubens, 
and  Bielfeld  were  present.  The  case  went  over  for  five  days. 
Bielfeld  said  the  society  proposed  to  "turn  out  in  citizens'  dress 
without  any  distinctive  marks."  At  that  time  many  people  an- 
ticipated bloodshed  on  the  Fourth,  and  not  a  few  left  the  city  to 
be  out  of  danger.  The  same  day — July  2 — when  the  case  came 
up  Bielfeld  denied  the  charge,  but  the  justice  bound  him  over  in 
$300  bail.  Late  that  afternoon  an  application  was  made  to  Judge 
Barnum  for  the  release  of  Bielfeld  on  habeas  corpus.  In  grant- 
ing the  application  Judge  Barnum,  in  a  lengthy  opinion,  declared 
that  about  every  section  and  clause  in  the  militia  law  was  uncon- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  38 1 

sti.tutional.  This  being  a  habeas-corpus  case  it  was  impossible  to 
carry  the  matter  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Soon  afterward,  how- 
ever, a  man  by  the  name  of  Dunne,  being  summoned  to  ap- 
pear as  a  petit  juror  before  Judge  Barnum,  then  sitting  in  the 
Criminal  Court,  pleaded  his  exemption,  he  being  a  member  of 
the  National  Guard,  not  amenable  to  jury  service.  The  court 
overruled  the  point,  and  the  juror  refusing  to  serve,  he  was  fined, 
and  from  that  decision  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  sitting  in  November,  1879,  at  Mount  Vernon,  where  the 
case  was  argued  by  Mr.  Charles  A.  Gregory  on  behalf  of  the 
juror,  and  by  Harry  Rubens  on  behalf  of  the  people.  The  Su- 
preme Court  sustained  the  constitutionality  of  the  militia  law, 
upsetting  all  the  points  of  the  Communists'  lawyers  and  over- 
ruling Judge  Barnum's  positions,  one  by  one. 

This  decision  in  effect  was  that  armed  bodies  of  Commu- 
nists had  no  right  to  go  out  on  parade.  The  Supreme  Court 
reversed  Judge  Barnum's  decision  and  remanded  the  cause.  In 
deciding  this  case  the  Supreme  Court  said  :  "  Whether  bodies  of 
men  with  military  organization  or  otherwise,  under  no  discipline 
or  command  of  the  United  States  or  a  state,  shall  be  permitted 
to  parade  with  arms  in  populous  communities,  is  within  the  regu- 
lation and  subject  to  the  police  power  of  the  state..  In  matters 
pertaining  to  the  internal  peace  and  well-being  of  the  state  its 
police  powers  are  plenary  and  inalienable.  It  is  a  power  coex- 
tensive with  self-protection,  and  is  sometimes  termed,  and  not 
inaptly,  the  law  of  overruling  necessity.  Everything  necessary 
for  the  protection,  safety  and  best  interests  of  the  people  of  the 
state  may  be  done  within  this  power." 

In  the  fall  of  1879  the  Bohemian  Sharpshooters  held  a  pic- 
nic at  Silver  Leaf  grove,  near  Douglas  park,  and  being  exasper- 
ated by  troublesome  "hoodlums"  they  fired  a  volley,  under  the 
orders  of  their  captain,  Prokop  Hudek,  into  the  crowd  of  people 
outside  the  park,  wounding  several.  Prokop  Hudek  and  the 
entire  company  of  Bohemian  Sharpshooters  were  marched  from 
Silver  Leaf  grove  between  files  of  police  to  the  old  Madison 
street  police  station,  at  the  corner  of  Union  street.  Great  ex- 
citement prevailed ;  a  mob  gathered,  and  threats  were  made 
openly  to  lynch  the  leaders,  and  strenuous  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  police  were  required  to  disperse  the  exasperated  people. 

Another  test  case,  similar  to  that  of  Frank  Bielfeld,  was 
that  of  Herman  Presser,  which  went  to  the  state  Supreme 
Court  and  thence  to  the  federal  Supreme  Court,  where,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1886,  the  militia  law  was  affirmed.     The  claim  set  up  on  the 


382  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

part  of  the  armed  Socialists  was  that  the  Federal  Constitution 
proclaims  that  "  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms 
shall  not  be  infringed,"  and  that  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law 
abridging  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble  and  peti- 
tion the  government  for  a  redress  of  grievances."  The  Federal 
Supreme  Court  said  of  the  first  amendment : 

"  The  amendment  is  a  limitation  only  upon  the  power  of 
Congress  and  the  national  government,  and  not  upon  that  of  the 
state.  It  was  so  held  by  this  court  in  the  case  of  United  States 
vs.  Cruikshank,  92  U.  S.,  542,  in  which  the  Chief-Justice,  in  de- 
livering the  judgment  of  the  court,  said  that  the  right  of  the  peo- 
ple to  bear  arms  is  not  a  right  granted  by  the  Constitution. 
Neither  is  it  in  any  manner  dependent  on  that  instrument  for  its 
existence.  The  second  amendment  declares  that  it  shall  not  be 
infringed  ;  but  this,  as  has  been  seen,  means  no  more  than  that 
it  shall  not  be  infringed  by  Congress." 

The  United  States  Supreme  Court  recognized  the  right  of 
peaceable  assemblage  as  an  attribute  of  national  citizenship  and 
one  that  will  be  protected  by  Federal  authority  where  the  express 
and  only  purpose  of  the  meeting  is  to  "petition  for  a  redress  of 
grievances."  In  such  case  the  meeting  must  be  in  entire  subor- 
dination to  the  police  power  of  the  state,  and  the  assemblage 
must  be  made  at  a  proper  time  and  place,  the  power  of  the  state 
being  absolute,  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  saying  in  the  Presser 
case:  "To  deny  the  power  would  be  to  deny  the  right  of  the 
state  to  disperse  assemblages  organized  for  sedition  and  treason, 
and  the  right  to  suppress  armed  mobs  bent  on  riot  and  rapine." 

From  the  time  of  the  arrest  of  Presser,  armed  parades  of 
Socialists  ceased  ;  but  their  groups  drilled  in  secret  and  became 
versed  in  the  use  of  dynamite  bombs,  and  other  Anarchistic  means 
of  subverting  law  and  order.  For  six  months  prior  to  May  1, 
1886,  a  labor  agitation  for  eight  hours'  work,  beginning  on  that 
date,  was  carried  on  throughout  the  country.  One  of  the  lead- 
ing labor  agitators  of  Chicago  was  George  Schilling.  The  rec- 
ognized leaders  of  the  Anarchists  were  August  Spies,  A.  R.  Par- 
sons and  Samuel  Fielden.  From  newspaper  comments  on  se- 
cret meetings  of  Anarchist  groups,  and  the  utterances  of  their 
organ,  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  edited  by  Spies,  and  the  Alarm, 
edited  by  Parsons,  it  became  known  to  the  police  that  the  An- 
archists would  probably  attempt  to  seize  upon  the  opportunity  of 
expected  labor  disturbances  on  the  1st  of  May  to  precipitate  an 
outbreak  against  capital,  and  the  law  and  order  of  the  city.  It 
was  undoubtedly  the  design  of  these  reckless  and  misguided  plot- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  3S3 

ters  to  take  advantage  of  the  labor  troubles  to  organize  mobs 
and  incite  riot  on  a  large  scale,  or  "revolution"  as  they  termed  it, 
and  to  attempt  to  demoralize  and  put  to  flight  the  police  and 
the  militia  ;  to  secure  possession  of  and  sack  the  city,  and  they 
professed  to  believe  that  once  this  was  done,  a  general  revolution 
would  be  precipitated  upon  the  country.  The  collapse  of  the  ef- 
fort and  the  punishment  meted  out  to  the  leaders,  marks  an 
epoch  in  the  annals  of  the  Union,  and  is  an  evidence  that  the 
government  will  be  maintained  and  treason  be  put  down,  in  what- 
ever guise  it  may  appear.  A  majority  of  the  Anarchists  in  Chi- 
cago and  elsewhere  in  the  United  States  are  not  citizens,  and 
many  have  been  naturalized  only  for  a  brief  period. 

There  had  been  for  some  weeks  a  great  strike  of  the  em- 
ployes of  McCormick's  Reaper  Works  on  Blue  Island  avenue, 
or  the  "Black  Road,"  as  it  was  called  by  the  laboring  men. 
Some  of  the  one  thousand  or  more  employes  were  turbulent, 
and  here  the  Anarchists  first  made  an  effort  to  inflame  the  work- 
ing men  to  violence.  On  the  afternoon  of  May  2  a  company  of 
Anarchists,  recruited  mainly  from  the  Bohemian  district  in  the 
vicinity  of  Eighteenth  street  and  Center  avenue,  marched  down 
the  "Black  Road"  with  the  American  flag  reversed.  They  were 
joined  by  many  of  the  strikers  and  a  meeting  was  held  on  the 
open  prairie  in  front  of  the  McCormick  works,  at  which  Spies 
made  an  inflammatory  speech.  At  its  conclusion  the  mob  charged 
the  works,  where  a  number  of  non-union  men  were  employed, 
and  demolished  a  portion  of  the  works  and  injured  a  number  of 
the  employes.  There  were  six  police  officers  on  duty,  and  they 
bravely  tried  to  hold  the  mob  of  nearly  3,000  men  at  bay,  but 
they  were  overcome,  and  then  turned  in  an  alarm  for  the  patrol 
wagons.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  wagons  about  thirty  officers 
charged  the  mob  and  dispersed  it,  one  striker  being  killed  by  a 
revolver  shot,  and  several  being  injured.  That  night  an  Anar- 
chist circular,  printed  in  both  English  and  German,  was  distrib- 
uted throughout  the  city.     The  English  portion  was  as  follows: 

"REVENGE. 

"  Revenge,  working  men  !  to  arms  !  Your  masters  sent  out 
their  bloodhounds — the  police.  They  killed  six  of  your  broth- 
ers at  McCormick's  this  afternoon.  They  killed  the  poor 
wretches,  because  they,  like  you,  had  the  courage  to  disobey  the 
supreme  will  of  your  bosses.  They  killed  them  because  they 
dared  ask  for  the  shortening  of  the  hours  of  toil.  They  killed 
them  to  show  you,  '  free  American  citizens,'  that  you  must  be 
satisfied  and  contented  with  whatever  vour  bosses  condescend  to 


384  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

allow  you,  or  you'll  get  killed.  You  have  for  years  endured  the 
most  abject  humiliation;  you  have  for  years  suffered  immeasu- 
rable iniquities  ;  you  have  worked  yourselves  to  death  ;  you  have 
endured  the  pangs  of  want  and  hunger  ;  your  children  you  have 
sacrificed  to  the  factory  lords — in  short,  you  have  been  miserable, 
obedient  slaves  all  these  years.  Why  ?  To  satisfy  the  insatiable 
greed  to  fill  the  coffers  of  your  lazy,  thieving  master.  When  you 
ask  them  now  to  lessen  your  burden  he  sends  his  bloodhounds 
out  to  shoot  you,  kill  you.  If  you  are  men,  if  you  are  the  sons 
of  your  grandsires  who  have  shed  their  blood  to  free  you,  then 
you  will  rise  in  your  might,  Hercules,  and  destroy  the  hideous 
monster  that  seeks  to  destroy  you.  To  arms  we  call  you  !  To 
arms !  Your  Brothers." 

The  German  portion  differed  from  the  above  mainly  in  the 
following  passage:  "Why?  Because  you  dared  ask  for  the 
shortening  of  the  hours  of  labor."  In  the  German  copy  it  ran: 
"Because  you  dared  ask  for  all  that  you  believed  to  be  your  rights." 
Instead  of  being  addressed,  as  in  the  English,  to  American  cit- 
izens, it  was  directed  to  the  followers  of  Anarchy  and  Socialism. 

Another  circular  was  distributed  calling  a  meeting  at  the 
Haymarket  for  the  night  of  May  4,  and  urging  working  men  to 
arm  and  go  in  full  force.  In  the  Ar better  Zeitung  appeared  the 
letter  "  Y,"  meaning  Ypsilon,  which  was  the  signal  for  the  armed 
Anarchists  to  turn  out,  and  in  the  department  of  the  paper 
known  as  the  "Letter-Box"  the  word  "  Ruhe,"  signifying  that 
the  time  for  revolution  was  at  hand.  There  were  probably  300 
armed  Anarchists  at  the  meeting  and  about  2,000  people  in  at- 
tendance altogether.  It  was  evidently  the  intention  of  the  An- 
archist leaders  to  incite  the  unemployed  working  men  to  violence, 
disorganize  and  disperse  the  police,  and  lead  a  mob  in  a  march 
of  unobstructed  pillage  and  destruction  through  the  city.  A 
truck  was  used  as  a  speakers'  stand  ;  it  was  10  o'clock  ;  Spies  and 
Parsons  had  spoken,  and  Fielden  was  haranguing  the  crowd.  A 
platoon  of  seven  companies  of  police,  numbering  180  men,  under 
command  of  Inspector  John  Bonfield  and  Captain  William  Ward 
and  Lieutenants  Bowler,  Stanton,  Peuzen,  Hubbard,  Beard, 
Steele  and  Quinn,  wheeled  into  the  Haymarket  from  Desplaines 
street,  and  Captain  Ward  commanded  the  lawless  and  incendiary 
speakers  and  their  followers,  in  the  name  of  the  law  to  disperse. 
The  police  were  in  two  ranks,  open  order.  Fielden  had  started 
to  descend  from  the  truck  when  a  whizzing  sound  was  heard  and 
a  dynamite  bomb,  thrown  from  an  adjacent  alley,  descended  be- 
tween the  two  ranks  of  policemen  and  exploded  with  a  deafening 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  385 

detonation.  This  was  immediately  followed  by  a  volley  from  the 
revolvers  of  the  armed  Anarchists.  The  police  wavered,  but  al- 
though the  front  rank  had  almost  to  a  man  been  mown  down, 
they  rallied,  and  at  the  command  of  Captain  Bonfield  closed  up 
and  returned  the  fire  by  repeated  rounds  from  their  revolvers, 
Captain  Bonfield  leading  the  example  by  taking  a  revolver  from 
one  of  the  fallen  men,  and  with  his  own,  firing  with  both  hands. 
In  the  face  of  this  murderous  fire  the  Anarchists  could  not  rally, 
and  they  broke  and  ran  in  all  directions.  Several  of  their  num- 
ber were  killed  and  many  wounded,  but  the  exact  number  cannot 
be  stated,  for  the  reason  that,  as  in  the  riots  of  1877,  and  the 
McCormick  outbreak,  many  were  helped  away  and  secreted  by 
their  friends.  The  wounded  policemen  were  removed  to  the 
County  Hospital,  and  the  police  patrol  wagons  were  kept  busy 
all  night  in  caring  for  the  dead  and  dying. 

By  the  brave  and  steady  action  of  the  police  Chicago  was 
saved  from  a  still  more  bloody  riot  and  the  possible  loss  of  count- 
less lives  and  the  destruction  of  millions  of  dollars  worth  of 
property  at  the  hands  of  a  mob  of  reckless  Anarchists,  who  made 
the  boldest  attempt  at  the  subversion  of  the  law  and  public  au- 
thority since  the  days  of  the  Paris  Commune.  The  following 
day  the  Mayor  issued  a  proclamation  commanding*  the  people 
not  to  assemble  in  crowds  until  the  prevalent  disorders  were 
over.  The  Arbeiter  Zeitung  was  suppressed  ;  the  office  raided 
by  the  police,  as  also  were  Greif's  and  Zephf's  halls  and  many 
other  Anarchist  headquarters.  Gre.it  quantities  of  dynamite 
bombs  and  arms  were  seized  and  destroyed,  together  with  red 
flags,  banners,  and  Socialist  and  Anarchist  literature.  Eight  An- 
archist  leaders  were  arrested  and  indicted  for  murder,  and  twen- 
ty-six others  for  conspiracy  and  treason.  Those  indicted  and 
tried  for  murder  were  August  Spies,  a  German  by  nationality, 
editor  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitimp  and  one  of  the  leading  Anarchist 
agitators  ;  A.  R.  Parsons,  an  American — brother  of  the  Confed- 
erate general,  Lew  Parsons — Commander-at-Large  of  the  Anar- 
chists, whose  wife,  an  Octoroon,  was  also  a  violent  agitator  ; 
Samuel  Fielden,  English  by  nationality,  a  carpenter  by  trade, 
and  a  noted  agitator  ;  Oscar  Neebe,  German,  laborer  in  a  brew- 
ery and  circulator  of  the  Arbeiter ;  Adolph  Fischer,  German, 
compositor  on  and  circulator  of  the  Arbeiter  ;  Louis  Li  nog,  Ger- 
man, carpenter  by  trade,  circulator  of  the  Arbeiter  ;  George  En- 
gel,  German,  Anarchist  agitator,  and  Michael  Schwab,  associate 
editor  of  the  Arbeiter.  The  day  following  the  outbreak  the  city- 
detectives    arrested    Rudolph    Schnaubelt  for  complicity  in  the 


386  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

murderous  attack  on  the  police,  but  at  this  time  it  was  not  known 
that  the  bomb-throwing  was  the  result  of  a  great  conspiracy,  and 
after  questioning  Schnaubelt  and  coming  to  the  belief  that  he 
was  not  concerned  in  the  bloody  deed,  he  was  released  and  he 
speedily  disappeared  from  the  city.  Subsequently  it  transpired 
that  in  all  probability  it  was  Schnaubelt  who  threw  the  bomb,  at 
the  command  of  Engel  or  Spies.  A.  R.  Parsons  disappeared 
the  night  after  the  riot,  and  was  not  arrested.  He  came  into 
court  and  gave  himself  up  on  the  day  set  for  the  trial. 

After  four  weeks  spent  in  an  attempt  to  obtain  a  jury,  during 
which  time  twelve  or  fifteen  panels  were  exhausted,  the  Anar- 
chists were  finally  brought  to  trial  in  the  Criminal  Court,  before 
his  Honor,  Judge  Gary.  The  jurymen  selected  were  Major 
James  H.  Cole,  F.  E.  Osborne,  S.  G.  Randall,  A.  H.  Reed,  J.  H. 
Brayton,  A.  Hamilton,  G.  W.  Adams,  J.  B.  Greiner,  C.  B.Todd, 
C.  A.  Ludwig,  T.  E.  Denker  and  H.  T.  Sanford. 

June  19  the  counsel  for  the  defense  of  the  Anarchists  filed 
an  application  with  State's-Attorney  Grinnell  for  a  separate  trial 
of  each  of  the  defendants,  Spies,  Fielden,  Schwab  and  Neebe. 
The  application  stated  that  the  defendants  were  afraid  that  the 
jury  would  get  the  acts  of  each  of  the  four  men  mixed  up,  to  the 
injury  of  the  cases  of  the  other  three — Engel,  Lingg  and  Fisch- 
er. Judge  Gary  denied  this  motion  on  the  ground  that  they  had 
been  jointly  indicted  for  conspiracy  and  murder. 

The  prosecution  in  this  noted  trial  was  conducted  by  State's 
Attorney  Julius  S.  Grinnell  and  Assistant  State's  Attorneys 
George  Ingham  and  Frank  Walker,  and  the  defense  by  Col.  W. 
P.  Black,  Salomon  &  Zeisler,  and  Mr.  Foster,  of  Iowa.  After 
many  weeks  of  interminable  delay,  spent  in  challenging  jurors 
and  the  exhaustion  of  every  device  known  to  crafty  lawyers  to 
gain  the  slightest  advantage,  the  trial  of  the  Anarchists  finally 
opened  by  the  taking  of  evidence  on  Friday,  July  16,  the  court 
room  being  crowded  by  hundreds  of  people,  many  ladies  among 
the  number.  Several  of  the  policemen  wounded  at  the  Hay- 
market  were  also  present,  among  them  Officer  Reed,  who  was 
shot  in  the  leg  ;  Steele,  who  was  shot  in  the  back  ;  Barber,  who 
was  shot  in  the  foot  and  who  has  to  depend  on  a  crutch  to  get 
along,  and  Officer  McMahon,  who  was  shot  in  two  places  in  the 
leg. 

The  first  witness  was  Felix  C.  Puschek,  a  draughtsman,  who 
submitted  plans  fur  use  in  the  trial,  of  Neff's  hall,  58  Clybourne 
avenue,  of  the  Haymarket ;  of  Zeph's  hall,  120  West  Lake 
street,  Greif's  hall,  54  West  Lake  street,  and  other  Anarchist 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  387 

meeting  places.  Police  Inspector  Bonfield  next  takes  the  stand 
and  relates  how  the  police  attempted  to  disperse  the  unlawful  as- 
semblage of  armed  Anarchists,  and  details  the  circumstance  of 
the  bomb-throwing,  already  related.  He  also  identifies  the  fol- 
lowing circular,  by  which  the  meeting  was  called  : 

"Attention,  working  men  !  Great  mass-meeting  to-night,  at 
7  o'clock,  Haymarket  square,  between  Desplaines  and  Halsted. 
Good  speakers  will  be  present  to  denounce  the  late  atrocious  act 
of  the  police,  the  shooting  of  our  fellow  working  men  yesterday 
afternoon.     Working  men,  arm  and  appear  in  full  force. 

"  The  Committee." 

Some  of  the  Anarchists  indicted  for  conspiracy  turned  state's 
evidence.  Gottfried  Waller,  a  Swiss  by  nationality,  a  cabinet- 
maker by  trade,  formerly  a  Socialist  and  a  member  of  the  Lehr 
und  Wehr  Verein,  testified  that  the  latter  organization  comprised 
various  armed  groups  of  Anarchists  ;  that  the  letter  "  Y  "  in  the 
Arbeiter  Zeitung  meant  for  the  armed  sectibn  to  meet  at  Greif's 
hall ;  that  he  acted  as  chairman  of  the  meeting  of  seventy  or 
eighty  persons,  Engel,  Fischer  and  Breitenfeld,  the  commander 
of  the  Lehr  und  Wehr,  being  present.  The  witness  testified  that 
Engel  unfolded  a  plan  whereby  if  a  collision  between  the  strikers 
and  the  police  should  occur,  the  word  "  Ruhe"  would  appear  in 
the  Arbeiter  as  a  signal  for  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  and  the  North- 
west group  of  Anarchists  to  assemble  in  Wicker  Park  with  arms. 
They  should  then  storm  the  North  avenue  police  station,  and 
proceed  thence  to  other  stations,  using  dynamite  and  shooting 
down  all  who  opposed  them,  and  should  cut  the  telegraph  wires 
to  prevent  communication  with  the  outside  world.  Engel  said 
the  best  way  to  begin  would  be  to  throw  a  dynamite  bomb  into 
the  police  station,  and  that  when  the  populace  saw  that  the  police 
were  overpowered,  tumult  would  spread  through  the  city,  and  the 
Anarchists  would  be  joined  by  the  working  men.  This  plan,  En- 
gel said,  had  been  adopted  by  the  Northwest  group.  It  was  de- 
cided to  appoint  a  committee  to  keep  watch  of  affairs  in  the  city 
and  to  call  a  meeting  for  the  next  night  in  the  Haymarket.  Fisch- 
er was  directed  to  get  the  handbills  calling  the  meeting  printed. 
Those  present  at  the  preliminary  meeting  represented  various 
groups  throughout  the  city.  Fischer  announced  that  the  word 
"  Ruhe"  would  mean  that  a  revolution  had  been  started.  Engel 
put  the  motion,  and  the  plan  was  adopted.  The  Committee  on 
Action  was  composed  of  members  from  each  group  ;  the  witness 
knew  only  one — Kraemer.  The  members  of  the  armed  groups 
were  known  by  numbers,  and  witness'  number  was  19.     Witness 


388  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

testified  that  he  had  had  bombs  in  his  possession  given  him  by 
Fischer.  Others  present  at  the  meeting  were  Rheinwald,  Krue- 
ger  (afterward  killed  by  the  police),  another  Krueger,  Gruenwald, 
Schrader,  Huber,  Huebner,  Hermann,  two  Lehmanns,  and 
Schnaubelt.  Witness  went  to  the  Haymarket  meeting  armed 
with  a  revolver.  August  Krueger  was  known  as  "the  little 
Krueger"  and  Rudolph  as  "the  big  Krueger."  The  witness  fin- 
ally acknowledged  that  a  preliminary  meeting  had  been  held  on 
Emma  street  the  Sunday  before  the  meeting  at  Greif's  hall  at 
which  Engel's  plan  was  discussed  and  adopted. 

Bernhard  Schrader,  a  native  of  Prussia,  five  years  in  this 
country,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  testified  that  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein  ;  was  at  the  meeting  at  Greif's  hall 
the  night  of  May  3,  and  he  corroborated  Waller's  testimony 
throughout.  Besides  those  mentioned  by  Waller,  Schrader 
named  Hadermann,  Thiele  and  Danafeldt,  as  attendants  at  the 
meeting.  He  saw  Balthauser  Rau  distributing  the  "Revenge" 
circulars  at  a  meeting  of  the  Carpenters'  Union  on  Desplaines 
street.  Witness  was  present  also  at  the  Sunday  meeting  on  Emma 
street.  It  was  here  agreed  to  cripple  the  fire  department,  in 
case  they  were  called  out,  by  cutting  their  hose.  Witness  went 
to  the  meeting  at  54  West  Lake  street  in  response  to  the  signal 
"Y"  in  the  A  r better  Zeitimg.  He  was  at  the  Haymarket,  but 
did  not  know  who  threw  the  bomb.  The  Northwest  group  of 
the  Lehr  und  Wehr  were  armed  with  Springfield  rifles.  Witness' 
number  in  the  organization  was  3,312. 

Lieut.  Edward  Steele  testified  that  when  the  police  entered 
the  Haymarket  somebody  cried  out :  "  Here  come  the  blood- 
hounds.    You  do  your  duty,  and  we'll  do  ours.'.' 

Lieut.  Michael  Quinn  testified  that  he  heard  this  exclama- 
tion and  that  the  man  who  made  it  was  Fielden,  just  as  he  ceased 
speaking  on  the  wagon.  About  the  instant  the  bomb  exploded, 
Fielden  exclaimed:   "We  are  peaceable  !" 

Lieutenant  Stanton  testified  that  the  bomb  exploded  four 
seconds  after  his  company  of  eighteen  men  entered  the  Hay- 
market. Every  member  of  his  company  except  two  were 
wounded,  and  two — Degan  and  Redden — killed.  The  witness 
was  wounded  in  eleven  places.  Officers  Krueger  and  Wessler 
testified  to  having  seen  Fielden  shoot  at  the  police  with  a  re- 
volver. 

Luther  V.  Moulton  of  Grand  Rapids,  testified  that  Febru- 
ary 22,  1885,  August  Spies  was  on  a  visit  to  Grand  Rapids  and 
he  there  questioned  him  about  the  objects   of  his  organization. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  389 

Spies  said  the  ballot-box  would  not  bring  about  reform  ;  that 
force  was  the  only  agency  to  be  depended  upon  :  that  there  were 
men  enough  in  Chicago  to  take  the  city,  and  when  the  city  was 
taken  the  rest  of  the  country  would  fall  into  line.  George  W. 
Shook,  also  of  Grand  Rapids,  testified  that  Spies  said  they  had 
a  secret  organization  in  Chicago  numbering  3,000,  and  that  they 
proposed  to  revolutionize  society.  They  were  to  undertake  it 
when  the  most  men  were  idle.  The  details  he  said,  were  only 
known  to  those  in  the  organization,  and  they  were  drilled  in  a 
secret  method  of  warfare. 

Lieutenant  Bowler  testified  to  seeing  men  in  the  crowd  fire 
upon  the  police  with  revolvers  ;  officers  S.  C.  Bohner  and  E.  J. 
Hawley  saw  Fielden  fire.  In  the  line  of  proving  up  the  conspir- 
acy to  incite  the  working  men  to  violence,  it  was  shown  by  the 
evidence  of  James  L.  Frazer,  E.  T.  Baker,  A.  S.  Leckie,  Frank 
Haraster,  Sergeant  John  Enright  and  Officer  L.  H.  McShane, 
that  Spies  and  Fielden  incited  the  mob  to  attack  McCormick's 
Reaper  Works  and  the  non-union  employes  on  May  3.  Detec- 
tive Reuben  Slayton  testified  to  having  arrested  Fischer  at  the 
Arbeiter  Zeitung  office.  He  had  a  loaded  revolver  hid  under 
his  coat ;  a  file-grooved  dagger  and  a  fulminating  cap,  used  to 
explode  dynamite  bombs.  Theodore  Fricke,  former  business 
manager  of  the  Arbeiter,  identified  the  copy  of  the  "Revenge" 
circular  as  being  in  Spies'  handwriting.  Lieutenant  William 
Ward  testified  to  having  commanded  the  Haymarket  meeting  to 
disperse  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  Illinois,  and  that  Fielden 
cried,  "We  are  peaceable,"  laying  a  slight  emphasis  on  the  last 
word. 

William  Seliger,  of  442  Sedgwick  street,  testified  that  Louis 
Lingg  boarded  with  him,  and  that  himself,  Lingg,  Huebner, 
Manzenberg  and  Hewmann  worked  at  making  dynamite  bombs 
of  a  spherical  shape.  He  attended  the  various  meetings.  He 
identified  the  calls  for  the  armed  sections  to  meet  in  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung.  Balthasar  Rau  brought  the  "Revenge"  circular  to 
Zephf's  hall.  Lingg  worked  at  first  on  "gas  pipe"  bombs  ;  they 
made  forty  or  fifty  bombs  the  Tuesday  before  the  riot.  Lingg 
said  they  were  to  be  used  that  evening  ;  he  and  Lingg  carried  a 
small  trunk  full  of  the  bombs  to  Neff's  hall,  58  Clybourne  ave- 
nue, that  evening,  where  they  were  divided  up  among  the  An- 
archists ;  besides  the  Northwest  group  the  Sachsen  Bund  met  at 
Neff's  hall  ;  witness,  Lingg,  Thieben  and  Gustav  Lehman  and 
two  others  from  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein,  left  Neff's  hall  for 
the   Larrabee  street  police  station ;    Lingg  said  a   disturbance 


390  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

must  be  made  on  the  North  side  to  prevent  the  police  from  go- 
ing to  the  West  side  ;  Lingg  wanted  to  throw  a  bomb  into  the 
station  ;  the  police  were  outside,  and  they  could  not  get  near ; 
the  patrol  wagon  came  along  completely  manned,  and  Lingg 
wanted  to  throw  a  bomb  under  the  wagon  ;  he  asked  witness  for 
fire  from  his  cigar ;  witness  went  into  a  hallway  and  lit  a  match, 
and  before  he  returned  the  wagon  had  passed  ;  they  returned  to 
Neff's  hall  where  he  heard  a  bomb  had  fallen  on  the  West  side, 
and  killed  a  great  many  ;  Hewmann  blamed  Lingg  and  said  in 
an  angry  voice,  "You  are  the  cause  of  it  all ;"  they  then  went 
and  hid  their  bombs  under  sidewalks  and  in  various  places,  and 
went  home  ;  Lingg  first  brought  dynamite  to  his  house  about 
six  weeks  before  May  i,  in  a  long  wooden  box  ;  he  made  a 
wooden  spoon  to  handle  it  with  in  filling  the  bombs  ;  witness  be- 
longed to  the  Northwest  group,  and  his  number  was  72  ;  Engel 
was  also  a  member.  [The  bombs  were  here  produced  and  Judge 
Gary  ordered  them  removed  immediately  from  the  court  room 
and  from  the  building].  Seliger's  testimony  was  unshaken  on 
cross-examination.  Mrs.  Bertha  Seliger  corroborated  her  hus- 
band's testimony,  testifying  that  at  one  time  six  or  seven  men 
were  at  work  making  bombs,  and  that  after  the  Haymarket 
Lingg  tore  up  the  floor  of  a  closet  to  secrete  those  he  had  on 
hand. 

Lieutenant  John  D.  Shea,  Chief  of  the  Detective  force, 
testified  to  having  assisted  in  the  raid  on  the  Ar better  Zeitung 
office,  May  5.  The  galley  of  type  from  which  the  "Revenge" 
circular  was  printed,  copies  of  Herr  Most's  book,  and  other  An- 
archist literature,  red  flags  and  banners  with  treasonable  devices, 
and  a  quantity  of  dynamite  were  found.  The  witness  asked 
Spies  if  he  wrote  the  "Revenue"  circular,  and  he  refused  to 
answer.  When  he  arrested  Fischer  he  asked  him  where  he 
was  on  the  night  of  the  Haymarket  meeting.  Fischer  said  in 
the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office  with  Schwab,  and  that  Rau  brought 
word  that  Spies  was  at  the  Haymarket,  that  a  big  crowd  was 
there,  and  they  all  went  over.  He  had  a  belt,  a  dagger,  and  a 
fulminating  cap  on  him  when  arrested,  but  he  said  he  carried  them 
for  protection.  I  said:  'You  didn't  need  them  in  the  office.' 
He  said:  T  intended  to  go  away,  but  was  arrested.'  I  also 
said  :  '  There  has  been  found  other  weapons  like  this  sharpened 
dagger;  how  is  it  you  come  to  carry  this?'  He  said  he  put  it 
in  his  pocket  for  his  own  protection." 

Detective  William  Jones  testified  that  he  had  a  locksmith 
open  a  closet  in  Spies'  office,  and  in  a  desk  were  found  two  bars 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS  39  I 

of  dynamite  ;  a  long-  fuse,  a  box  of  fulminating  caps,  some  let- 
ters, and  copies  of  both  the  celebrated  circulars.  At  Fischer's 
home  he  found  a  lot  of  cartridges  and  a  blouse  of  the  Lehr 
und  Wehr  Verein.  Officer  Duffy  found  two  thousand  copies  of 
the  circular  calling  upon  the  working  men  to  arm,  and  the  manu- 
script of  the  "Revenge"  circular  in  the  Arbeitcr  Zeitung  office. 
Herr  Most's  book,  "The  Science  of  Revolutionary  Warfare," 
found  in  the  Arbeiter  office,  was  offered  in  evidence  ;  also  the 
manual  for  the  manufacture  of  explosives  and  poisons. 

Gustav  Lehman,  one  of  the  conspirators,  gave  a  detailed 
account  of  various  meetings  ;  the  afternoon  of  May  4  he  was  at 
Lingg's  house  where  men  with  cloths  over  their  faces  were  mak- 
ing dynamite  bombs;  Huebner  was  cutting  fuse  ;  Lingg  gave 
witness  a  small  hand-satchel  with  two  bombs,  fuse,  caps,  and  a 
can  of  dynamite;  at  3  o'clock  in  the  morning  after  the  Haymark- 
et  explosion,  he  got  out  of  bed  and  carried  this  material  back 
of  Ogden's  grove  and  hid  it,  where  it  was  found  by  Officer  Hoff- 
man ;  money  to  buy  dynamite  was  raised  at  a  dance  of  the  Car- 
penters' Union,  at  Florus'  hall,  71  West  Lake  street.  Lingg  took 
this  money  and  bought  dynamite  ;  Lingg  taught  them  how  to 
make  bombs.  M.  H.  Williamson  and  Clarence  P.  Dresser,  re- 
porters, had  heard  Fielden,  Parsons  and  Spies  counsel  violence; 
the  latter  at  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office  had  advised  that  the 
new  Board  of  Trade  be  blown  up  on  the  night  of  its  opening. 
George  Munn  and  Herman  Pudewa,  printers,  worked  on  the 
"Revenue"  circular  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office ;  Richard 
Reichel,  office-boy,  got  the  "copy"  for  it  from  Spies. 

The  most  sensational  evidence  of  the  trial,  as  showing  the 
inside  workings  of  the  armed  sections  of  the  Socialists,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  most  damaging  as  indicative  of  their  motives 
and  designs,  was  that  of  Detective  Andrew  C.  Johnson,  of  the 
Pinkerton  agency,  an  entirely  disinterested  person  who  was  de- 
tailed in  December,  1884,  by  his  agency,  which  had  been  em- 
ployed by  the  First  National  Bank  to  furnish  details  of  the  secret 
meetings  which  it  was  known  were  being  held  by  revolutionary 
plotters  at  various  places  throughout  the  city.  Johnson  is  a 
Scandinavian,  thin-faced  and  sandy-haired,  born  in  Copenhagen, 
and  thirty-five  years  of  age.  He  told  his  story  in  a  calm,  col- 
lected, business-like  manner.     Mr.  Grinnell  asked  : 

"Do  you  know  any  of  the  defendants  ?"     Witness — "I   do." 

"Name  them." — "Parsons,  Fielden,  Spies,  Schwab,  and 
Lingg." 

"Were  you  at  any  time  connected  with  any  group  of  the 
International  Working  men's  Association?" — "I  was." 


392  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"What  group?" — "The  American  group." 

"Were  you  a  member  of  any  armed  section  of  the  Socialists 
of  this  city?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"When  did  you  begin  attendance  at  their  meetings  ?" — "The 
first  meeting  I  attended  was  the  22d  of  February,  1885,  at  Baum's 
Pavilion.  The  last  meeting  I  attended  was  the  24th  of  January 
of  this  year." 

"At  whose  instance  did  you  go  to  their  meetings?" — "i_* 
the  instance  of  my  agency." 

"Did  you  from  time  to  time  make  reports  of  what  you  heard 
and  saw  at  their  meetings?" — "I  did." 

Mr.  Grinnell  passed  over  to  witness  a  bundle  of  papers  and 
asked  :  "Have  you  in  your  hand  a  report  of  the  meeting  of  the 
22d  of  February,  1885  ?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"Were  any  of  the  defendants  present  at  that  meeting?" — 
"Yes,  sir  ;  Parsons  was  present." 

"Refer  to  your  memoranda  and  tell  me  what  was  said  by 
Parsons  at  that  meeting." — Objected  to  ;  overruled. — "Parsons 
stated  that  the  reason  the  meeting  had  been  called  in  that  locality 
was  so  as  to  give  the  many  merchant  princes  who  resided  there 
an  opportunity  to  attend  and  see  what  the  Communists  had  to 
say  about  the  distribution  of  wealth.  He  said  :  'I  want  you  all 
to  unite  together  and  throw  off  the  yoke.  We  need  no  Presi- 
dent, no  Congressmen,  no  police,  no  militia,  and  no  judges. 
They  are  all  leeches,  sucking  the  blood  of  the  poor,  who  have 
to  support  them  all  by  their  labor.  I  say  to  you,  rise  one  and 
all,  and  let  us  exterminate  them  all.  Woe  to  the  police  or  to  the 
military  whom  they  send  against  us.'" 

"That  was  where?" — "At  Baum's  Pavilion,  corner  of  Cottage 
Grove  avenue  and  Twenty-second  street." 

"Have  you  a  report  of  any  other  of  the  defendants  speaking 
at  that  meeting?" — "No  sir." 

"What  is  the  next  memorandum  that  you  have?" — "The 
next  meeting  was  March  1.  That  night  I  became  a  member.  I 
went  to  Thielen,  who  was  at  the  time  acting  as  Treasurer  and 
Secretary  for  the  association,  and  gave  him  my  name,  and  signi- 
fied my  willingness  to  join  the  association.  He  entered  my  name 
in  a  book  and  handed  me  a  red  card  with  my  name  on  and  a 
number." 

"When  and  where  was  that?" — "That  was  March  1,  1885,. 
at  Greif's  hall,  No.  54  West  Lake  street,  in  this  city." 

"Have  you  what  was  said  and  done  at  that  meeting?" — "I 
have  a  report  of  it  here." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  393 

"Who  spoke?" — "Parsons,  Fielden,  Spies,  and  others." 

"Any  other  of  the  defendants  ?" — "No  sir." 

"State  what  Fielden  said,  and  then  what  Parsons  said." — "A 
lecture  was  given  by  a  man  named  Bailey  on  the  subject  of  Social- 
ism and  Christianity,  and  the  question  arose  as  to  whether  Chris- 
tianity ought  to  be  introduced  in  their  meetings." 

"What  did  Fielden,  Spies,  and  Parsons  say  there?" — 
"Fielden  said  that  he  thought  this  matter  ought  not  to  be  intro- 
duced into  their  meetings.  Parsons  said,  '1  am  of  the  same 
opinion;'  and  Spies  also  said  that  it  ought  not  to  be  intro- 
duced." 

"Now  state  the  next  meeting." — "The  next  meeting  was 
March  4,  at  the  same  place." 

"Who  were  present?" — "Parsons,  Fielden,  and  Spies  were 
present,  and  spoke." 

"When  was  the  memorandum  made  that  you  have  of  that 
meeting?" — "The  same  day  immediately  after  the  termination  of 
the  meeting.  Parsons  said:  'We  are  sorely  in  need  of  funds  to 
publish  the  Alarm.  As  many  of  you  as  are  able  ought  to  give 
as  much  as  you  can,  because  our  paper  is  our  most  powerful 
weapon,  and  it  is  only  through  the  paper  that  we  can  hope  to 
reach  the  masses.'  During  his  lecture  he  introduced  Christian- 
ity. Spies  stood  up  and  said:  'We  don't  want  any  Christianity 
here  in  our  meetings  at  all.  We  have  told  you  so  before.' 
Fielden  made  no  speech." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "March  22." 

"Were  any  speeches  made  by  any  of  the  defendants  there?" 
— "Yes,  sir,  Spies  spoke.  Previously  a  man  named  Bishop  intro- 
duced a  resolution  of  sympathy  for  a  girl  named  Sorell.  Bishop 
stated  that  the  girl  had  been  assaulted  by  her  master.  She  had 
applied  for  a  warrant,  which  had  been  refused  her  on  account 
of  the  high  social  standing  of  her  master.  Spies  said:  'What  is 
the  use  of  passing  resolutions?  We  must  act,  and  revenge  the 
girl.  Here  is  a  fine  opportunity  for  some  of  our  young  men  to 
go  and  shoot  Wight.'  That  was  the  man  who  had  assaulted  the 
girl." 

"Do  your  reports  contain  references  to  speeches  made  by 
others  ?" — "They  do." 

"You  are  only  picking  out  speeches  made  by  the  defend- 
ants ?" — "That  is  all." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "March  29,  1885,  at  Greifs 
hall.  The  defendant,  Fielden,  spoke  at  that  meeting.  He  said: 
'A  few  explosions  in  the  city  of    Chicago  would  help  the   cause 


394  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

considerably.       There  is  the  new  Board  of  Trade,  a  roost  of 
thieves  and  robbers.     We  ought  to  commence  by  blowing    that 

up.'  " 

"Were  other  speeches  made  at  that  meeting  ?" — "There  were, 
but  no  others  made  by  the  defendants." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "April  i,  at  Greif's  hall. 
Spies,  Fielden  and  Parsons  were  present  at  that  meeting.  Spies 
made  a  lengthy  speech  on  this  occasion.  His  speech  was  in  re- 
gard to  acts  of  cruelty  committed  by  the  police  in  Chicago  ;  he 
spoke  of  the  number  of  arrests  made,  and  the  number  of  convic- 
tions in  proportion.  He  also  referred  to  the  case  of  the  girl  who 
preferred  a  charge  of  assault  against  Police-Sergeant  Patton,  of 
the  West   Chicago  avenue  station." 

"Who  else  spoke  there  ?" — "  Fielden.  Spies  had  said  be- 
fore that  he  had  advised  the  girl  to  get  a  pistol  and  go  and  shoot 
the  policeman.  Fielden  stood  up  and  said  :  '  That  is  what  she 
ought  to   do.'" 

"What  was  the  next  meeting  ?" — "  April  8,  1885,  at  Greif's 
hall.  Parsons  made  a  lengthy  speech.  He  referred  frequently 
in  his  address  to  the  strike  at  the  McCormick  harvester  works. 
He  said:  'There  is  but  one  of  two  things  for  the  men  to  do. 
They  must  either  go  to  work  for  the  wages  offered  them  or  else 
starve.'  In  concluding  his  remarks  he  referred  to  the  strike  at 
La  Salle,  Illinois.  He  said  :  '  To-morrow  morning  or  the  next  day 
the  authorities  here  in  the  city  will  probably  send  a  train-load  of 
policemen  or  militia  to  La  Salle  to  shoot  down  the  working  peo- 
ple there.  Now,  there  is  a  way  to  prevent  this.  All  you  have 
to  do  is  to  get  some  soap  and  place  it  on  the  rails  and  the  train 
will  be  unable  to  move.'  Parsons  spoke  at  great  length  of  the 
crimes,  as  he  termed  them,  of  the  capitalists,  and  he  said  to  those 
present  that  it  was  an  absolute  necessity  for  them  to  unite  against 
them,  as  that  was  the  only  way  they  could  fight  the  capitalists." 

"Who  else  spoke  there?" — "Fielden.  He  said  it  was  a 
blessing  something  had  been  discovered  wherewith  the  working 
men  could  fight  the  police  and  militia  with  their  Gatling  guns." 

"  What  was  the  next  meeting  you  had" — "  April  19.  That 
meeting  was  held  at  No.  106  Randolph  street,  because  the  hall 
at  No.  54  Lake  street  was  engaged.  At  this  meeting  Parsons 
offered  a  resolution  of  sympathy  for  Louis  Riel  and  the  half- 
breeds  in  the  Northwest  who  were  in  rebellion  against  the  Cana- 
dian government.  Neither  Parsons  nor  Fielden  spoke  at  the 
meeting." 

"  What  was  the  next  meeting  ?" — "  April  22,  at  Greif's  hall. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  395 

Referring  to  the  opening  of  the  new  Board  of  Trade  building, 
Parsons  said  :  '  What  a  splendid  opportunity  there  will  be  next 
Tuesday  night  for  some  bold  fellow  to  make  the  capitalists  trem- 
ble by  blowing  up  the  building  and  all  the  thieves  and  robbers 
that  are  there.'  At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  he  said  that  the 
working  men  of  Chicago  should  form  in  processions  on  Market 
square  Tuesday  evening  next,  and  he  invited  all  those  present  to 
get  as  many  of  their  friends  as  they  could  to  join  in  the  pro- 
cession." 

"  Did  any  other  of  the  defendants  speak  there  ?  " — "  Fielden 
said  :  '  I  also  wish  to  invite  as  many  of  you  as  can  come  and  as 
many  as  you  can  get.  Go  around  to  the  lodging-houses  and  get 
all  you  can  to  join  in  the  procession — the  more  the  merrier."' 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "April  26,  at  Greifs 
hall." 

"  Did  any  of  the  defendants  speak  there  ?  " — "  There  were 
present  Parsons,  Fielden,  Spies.  Parsons  said  :  '  I  wish  you  all 
to  consider  the  misery  of  the  working  classes,  and  the  cause  of 
all  the  misery  is  these  institutions  termed  government.  I  lived 
on  snow-balls  all  last  winter,  but,  by  G — d!  I  won't  do  it  this 
winter.'  " 

"  What  was  the  next  meeting  at  which  any  of  the  defend- 
ants attended  ?  " — "  April  30,  at  Market  square  ;  Parsons  and 
Fieiden.  Parsons  said  :  '  We  have  assembled  in  here  to  deter- 
mine in  which  way  best  to  celebrate  the  dedication  of  the  new 
Board  of  Trade  building,  and  to  give  the  working  men  of  Chica- 
go a  chance  to  state  their  views  in  the  matter.'  Fielden  then 
said  :  "  I  want  all  the  working  men  of  Chicago,  the  country,  and 
the  world  in  general  to  arm  themselves  and  sweep  the  capitalists 
off  the  face  of  the  earth.'  Parsons  then  said  :  '  Every  working 
man  in  Chicago  must  save  a  little  of  his  wages  every  week  until 
he  has  enough  to  buy  a  Colt's  revolver  and  a  Winchester  rifle, 
for  the  only  way  that  the  working  people  will  get  their  rights  is 
by  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  We  want  you  to  form  in  proces- 
sion now,  and  we  will  march  to  the  Board  of  Trade.  We  will 
halt  there,  and  while  the  band  is  playing  we  will  sing  the  Mar- 
seillaise.'" 

"  Did  you  march  in  the  procession,  too  ?  " — "  I  did." 

"  Where  were  you  in  that  line  of  march  ?  " — "  I  was  in  the 
center  of  the  procession." 

"  Did  any  of  the  defendants  march  with  you  ?" — '•  Not  with 
me,  but  in  the  procession  Fielden,  Spies,  Parsons  and  Neebe 
marched." 


396  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"  What  was  the  next  meeting?" — "There  was  something 
occurred  the  night  of  May  30.  I  was  standing  at  the  corner  of 
Washington  street  and  Fifth  avenue  close  behind  Spies.  That 
was  Decoration  Day,  and  as  the  procession  passed  by  Spies  said  : 
'A  half-dozen  dynamite  bombs  would  scatter  them  all.'  A  little 
later  a  gentleman  who  was  standing  near  remarked  upon  the  fine 
appearance  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard,  who  were  then  pass- 
ing. Spies  said  :  '  They  are  only  boys,  and  would  be  no  use  in 
case  of  a  riot.  Fifty  determined  men  would  soon  disarm  them 
all."' 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "The  next  meeting  was 
on  the  Lake  front,  May  31,  and  Fielden  and  Parsons  were  there. 
Fielden  said  :  'It  is  only  by  strength  and  force  that  you  can 
overthrow  the  government.'  Parsons  also  spoke,  but  I  don't  rec- 
ollect what  he  said." 

"  Go  on  to  the  next  meeting." — "  The  next  meeting  was 
June  7,  at  Ogden's  grove.  There  were  present  Fielden,  Par- 
sons and  Spies.  Fielden  said  :  '  Every  working  man  in  Chicago 
ought  to  belong  to  organizations.  It  is  of  no  use  to  go  to  our 
masters  to  give  us  more  wages  or  better  times.  I  mean  for  you 
to  use  force.  It  is  of  no  use  for  the  working  people  to  hope  to 
gain  anything  by  means  of  an  ordinary  weapon.  Every  one  of 
you  must  learn  the  use  of  dynamite,  for  that  is  the  power  with 
which  we  hope  to  regain  our  rights.'  Schwab  also  spoke  at  that 
meeting  in  German,  which  I  do  not  understand." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "The  next  meeting  was 
August  19,  at  Greif's  hall.  Parsons  and  Fielden  spoke.  Par- 
sons referred  to  the  late  strike  of  the  street-car  employes,  and 
said  that  if  but  one  shot  had  been  fired  and  Bonfield  had  hap- 
pened to  be  shot,  the  whole  city  would  have  been  deluged  in 
blood,  and  social  revolution  would  have  been  inaugurated.  The 
next  meeting  was  August  24,  at  Greif's  hall." 

"  Do  you  know  of  a  fellow  named  Bodendecke  speaking  at 
those  meetings  ?  " — "  Occasionally,  but  not  frequently  ;  I  don't 
know  where  he  is  now.  There  were  some  twenty  or  twenty- 
three  men  present  at  that  meeting,  and  twenty  women." 

"  Name  who  were  present." — "  Besides  the  two  defendants, 
Parsons  and  Fielden,  there  was  Baltus,  Bodendecke,  Boyd,  Law- 
son,  Parker,  Franklin  and  Schneider." 

"State  what  occurred  there." — "After  being  there  a  short 
time  a  man  armed  with  a  long  cavalry  sword  and  dressed  in  a 
blue  blouse  and  wearing  a  slouch  hat  came  into  the  room.  He 
ordered  all  those  present  to  fall  in.      He  then  called  off  certain 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  397 

names,  and  all  those  present  answered  to  their  names.  He  in- 
quired whether  there  were  any  new  members  who  wished  to  join 
the  military  company,  and  some  one  replied  that  there  was.  He 
then  said  :  '  Whoever  wants  to  join  step  to  the  front'  Myself 
and  two  others  stepped  to  the  front.  We  were  asked  separately 
to  give  our  names.  I  gave  my  name,  which  was  put  down  in  a 
book,  and  I  was  then  told  that  my  number  was  16.  Previous  to 
my  name  being  put  down  in  the  book  a  man  to  whom  I  was 
speaking  asked  whether  there  was  any  one  present  who  knew 
me,  or  whether  any  one  could  vouch  for  my  being  a  true  man. 
The  defendant,  Parsons,  and  Bodendecke  spoke  up  and  said  they 
would  vouch  for  me.  The  other  two  were  asked  their  names  in 
turn,  and  as  they  were  properly  vouched  for,  their  names  were 
entered  in  a  similar  manner  in  a  book,  and  they  were  given  num- 
bers. The  man  who  came  into  the  room  armed  then  inquired  of 
two  other  men  in  the  room  whether  they  were  members  of  the 
American  group.  Both  said  they  were  and  he  asked  to  see  their 
cards.  As  they  were  unable  to  show  cards  they  were  expelled, 
as  were  two  others.  The  doors  were  closed  and  the  remainder 
were  asked  to  fall  in  line,  and  we  were  drilled  about  three-quar- 
ters of  an  hour — put  through  a  regular  manual  of  drill,  march- 
ing, countermarching,  wheeling,  forming  fours,  etc." 

"Who  drilled  you?" — "The  man  that  came  in  with  the  sword; 
I  didn't  ascertain  his  name.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  the  drill- 
instructor  stated  that  he  would  now  introduce  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  first  company  of  the  German  organization.  He 
went  outside  and  in  a  few  minutes  returned  accompanied  by  ten 
other  men,  dressed  as  he  himself  was,  each  one  armed  with  a 
Springfield  rifle.  When  they  all  got  into  the  room  he  placed 
them  in  line  facing  us  and  introduced  them  as  members  of  the 
first  company  of  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein.  He  said  that  he 
was  going  to  drill  them  a  little  while  to  let  us  see  how  far  they 
had  got  with  their  drill.  He  drilled  them  about  ten  minutes  in  a 
regular  musket  drill.  At  the  end  of  that  time  a  man  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  proprietor  of  the  saloon  at  No.  54  West  Lake  street 
came  into  the  room  with  two  tin  boxes,  which  he  placed  on  the 
table  at  the  south  end  of  the  room.  The  drill-instructor  then 
asked  all  those  present  to  step  up  and  examine  the  two  tin 
boxes,  as  they  were  the  latest  improved  dynamite  bomb.  I 
stepped  to  the  front  with  the  others,  and  examined  the  two  tins." 

"Describe  them  as  near  as  you  can." — "They  were  about 
the  size  and  had  the  appearance  of  ordinary  preserved  fruit  cans. 
The  top  part  unscrewed,  and  on  the  inside  the   cans  were  filled 


39§  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

with  a  light-brown  mixture.  There  was  also  a  small  glass  tube 
inserted  in  the  center  of  the  can.  The  tube  was  in  connection 
with  a  screw,  and  it  was  explained  that  when  the  can  was  thrown 
against  any  hard  substance  it  would  explode." 

"Was  that  mixture  a  liquid  ?" — "Inside  of  the  glass  tube  was 
a  liquid." 

"Was  there  anything  around  that  glass  tube  ?" — "Yes,  sir  ; 
it  was  a  brownish  mixture." 

"Was  that  a  liquid  ?" — No,  sir;  it  looked  more  like  fine  saw- 
dust." 

"Did  you  feel  of  it  ?" — "I  did  not.  The  drill-instructor  told 
us  we  should  be  very  careful  about  selecting  new  members  of  the 
company,  because  if  we  were  not,  there  was  no  telling  whom  we 
might  get  into  our  midst.  The  next  proceeding  of  the  evening 
was  to  select  officers.  A  man  named  Walters  was  chosen  Cap- 
tain, and  Parsons  was  chosen  Lieutenant.  Some  discussion 
arose  as  to  what  the  company  should  be  called.  It  was  decided 
eventually  that  we  should  be  called  the  International  Rifles. 
The  drill  instructor  then  suggested  that  we  ought  to  choose  some 
other  hall,  as  we  were  not  quite  safe  there.  He  added:  'We 
have  a  fine  place  at  No.  636  Milwaukee  avenue.  We  have  a 
shooting  range  in  the  basement,  where  we  practice  shooting  reg- 
ularly.' Parsons  inquired  whether  it  was  not  possible  for  us  to 
rent  the  same  place.  The  drill  instructor  informed  him  he  did 
not  know.  The  question  of  renting  another  hall  was  postponed, 
and  our  next  meeting  was  fixed  for  the  next  Monday." 

Mr.  Salomon — "A  meeting  of  what?" 

Witness — "A  meeting  of  the  armed  section  of  the  American 
group." 

Mr.  Grinnell — "Who  drilled  that  company  that  night?" — 
Witness — "That  German,  and  Parsons  and  Fielden." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting  ?" — "The  following  Monday, 
the  31st  of  August,  at  the  same  place.  Parsons  and  Fielden 
were  present,  and  others.  That  was  a  meeting  of  the  armed  sec- 
tion, and  it  was  held  at  Greif's  hall.  Capt.  Walters  drilled  us 
about  an  hour  and  a  half.  Afterward  a  consultation  was  held  by 
the  members  of  the  company  as  to  the  best  way  of  procuring 
arms.  Some  one  suggested  that  each  member  should  pay  so 
much  a  week  until  a  sufficient  amount  had  been  raised  wherewith 
to  purchase  a  rifle  for  each  member  of  the  company.  Parsons 
said :  'Look  here,  boys,  why  can't  we  make  a  raid  some  night  on 
the  militia  armory?  There  are  only  two  or  three  men  on  guard 
there,  and  it   is  easily  done.'      This  suggestion  seemed  to  be  fa- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  399 

vored  by  the  members,  and  it  was  finally  decided  to  put  the  mat- 
ter off  until  the  nights  got  a  little  longer." 

Capt.  Black — "Which  matter  was  put  off?" 

Witness — "The  raid  on  the  armory." 

Mr.  Grinnell — "When  was  the  next  meeting?" — Witness — 
"September  3,  1885,  at  No.  54  West  Lake  street.  Fielden  made  a 
speech  there  and  said:  'It  is  useless  for  you  to  suppose  that  you 
can  ever  obtain  anything  in  any  other  way  than  by  force.  You 
must  arm  yourselves  and  prepare  for  the  coming  revolution.' 
That  was  one  of  the  ordinary  meetings  of  the  association.  The 
next  meeting  was  October  11,  at  Twelfth  Street  Turner  hall. 
Spies  and  Fielden  were  present.  Fielden  said  :  'The  Eight- 
Hour  law  will  be  of  no  benefit  to  the  working  men.  You  must 
organize  and  use  force.  You  must  crush  out  the  present  Gov- 
ernment by  force.  It  is  the  only  way  in  which  you  can  better  your 
present  condition.'  I  left  with  Fielden  before  the  meeting  ter- 
minated." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting  you  attended  ?" — "The  next 
meeting  was  December  20,  at  Twelfth  street  Turner  hall.  Fiel- 
den was  present.  He  said  :  '  All  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe 
are  trembling  at  the  very  name  of  Socialism,  and  I  hope  soon  to 
see  a  few  Liskes  in  the  United  States  to  put  away  a  few  of  the 
tools  of  the  capitalists.  The  execution  of  Riel  in  the  Northwest 
was  downright  murder.  "' — "Was  that  an  open  meeting?" — "It 
was  as  far  as  I  know.      I  saw  no  one  refused  admission." 

"How  about  these  other  meetings  you  have  mentioned, 
aside  from  the  armed  sections  ?" — "Aside  from  the  meetings  of 
the  armed  section  I  should  say  that  they  were  public.  I  never 
saw  any  one  refused  admission." — "Was  there  any  precaution 
taken  ?" — "A  precaution  was  taken  in  this  way  :  A  member  of 
the  group  was  generally  stationed  at  the  door,  and  as  each  mem- 
ber entered  the  hall  he  was  closely  scrutinized.  The  next  meet- 
ing was  December  30." 

"What  place?" — "At  No.  106  Randolph." 

"Who  spoke  there  ?" — "Fielden.  At  this  meeting  a  stranger 
asked  a  question,  and  Fielden  replied  to  the  question." 

"Do  you  know  what  the  question  was?" — "The  question 
was,  '  Would  the  destruction  of  private  property  assist  universal 
co-operation  ?'  Fielden  replied  :  '  Neither  I  nor  any  body  else 
can  tell  what  is  going  to  be  in  a  hundred  years  from  now,  but 
this  everybody  knows,  if  private  property  is  done  away  with,  it 
would  insure  a  better  state  of  things  generally.  And  we  are  try- 
ing all  we  can  to  teach  the  people  the  best  way  in  which  to  bring 
about  this  change.' " 


400  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"Who  was  present  at  that  meeting  ?" — "Fielden,  only.  The 
next  meeting  was  January  of  this  year,  at  Twelfth  street 
Turner  hall.  Fielden  and  Schwab  were  present.  Fielden,  re- 
ferring to  the  troubles  in  Ireland,  said  :  '  If  every  Irishman 
would  become  a  Socialist,  he  would  have  abetter  opportunity  to 
secure  home-rule  for  Ireland.  I  want  all  Irishmen  to  destroy  all 
the  private  property  they  can  lay  their  hands  on.'  He  also  re- 
ferred to  other  matters.  What  he  said  had  reference  to  Pinker- 
ton's  detective  agency." 

"What  was  it  he  said  ?" — "He  said  Pinkerton's  de- 
tectives were  a  lot  of  cold-blooded  murderers,  and  the  worst 
enemies  the  working  men  had,  and  they  were  all  in  the  pay  of 
the  capitalists." 

"Is  that  all  that  was  said  there  ?  Was  that  one  of  these  or- 
dinary open  meetings?" — "It  was." 

"What  else  happened  ?" — "Schwab  also  addressed  this  meet- 
ing in  German.  During  his  speech  he  was  frequently  applaud- 
ed. The  next  meeting  I  attended  was  January  14  at  No.  106 
Randolph  street." 

"January  of  this  year?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"What  was  said  at  that  meeting  ?" — "Before  the  meeting 
commenced  the  defendants,  Fielden  and  Spies,  had  a  conversa- 
tion which  I  overheard." 

"Where  was  that  ?" — "That  was  held  in  the  hall  near  the 
door." 

"State  what  you  heard." — "Spies  said  to  Fielden  :  '  Don't 
say  very  much  about  that  article  on  Anarchists  in  an  afternoon 
paper.  You  simply  need  to  state  that  a  reporter  of  the  paper 
had  an  interview  with  me  a  few  days  ago,  but  that  most  of  the 
statements  of  the  paper  are  lies.'" 

"How  was  that  conversation  carried  on  ?" — "It  was  carried 
on  quietly  and  was  not  meant  for  anybody  else  to  hear." 

Capt.  Black  objected  to  the  last  part  of  the  answer,  and 
succeeded  in  having  it  stricken  out. 

"What  was  the  tone  of  voice  ?" — "In  whispers." 

"When  did  they  leave  ?" — ''Spies  further  said  :  'You  must 
be  careful  in  your  remarks.  You  don't  know  who  might  be 
amongst  us  to-night.  '  Spies  then  went  away  and  the  meeting 
was  called  to  order." 

"By  whom?" — "Fielden." 

"  What  did  he  say  ?  " — "  He  made  a  long  talk,  commenting 
on  the  articles  that  appeared.  He  said  almost  all  of  the  state- 
ments were  lies.      He  said  in  regard  to  dynamite  bombs  :  'It  is 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  4OI 

quite  true  we  have  lots  of  explosives  and  dynamite  in  our  pos- 
session, and  we  will  not  hesitate  to  use  them  when  the  proper 
time  comes.  We  care  nothing  at  all  either  for  the  military  or 
the  police.  All  of  these  are  in  the  pay  of  the  capitalists.'  He 
further  said  that  '  even  in  the  regular  army  most  of  the  soldiers 
are  in  sympathy  with  us,  and  most  of  them  have  been  driven  to 
enlist.  I  have  had  a  letter  from  a  friend  out  West.  He  told 
me  that  he  had  seen  a  soldier  on  the  frontier  reading  a  copy  of 
the  Alarm'  Others  then  made  speeches.  Afterward  Fielden 
again  spoke  at  the  same  meeting  in  regard  to  the  question  asked 
him,  what  was  the  Socialist  idea  of  the  eight-hour  movement. 
Fielden  said:  'We  don't  object  to  but  we  don't  believe  in  it. 
Whether  a  man  works  eight  hours  a  day  or  ten  hours  a  day  he 
is  still  a  slave.  We  propose  to  abolish  slavery  altogether.'  That 
is  all  of  that  meeting.  Fielden  said,  the  24th  of  January,  at  a 
meeting  held  at  No.  106  Randolph  street — " 

"  What  is  the  name  of  that,  Jung's  hall?" — "Yes,  I  believe 
it  is  Jung's  hall.  Fielden  said  good  results  were  sure  to  follow 
the  abolishment  of  private  property." 

"When  did  you  quit  this  branch  of  your  business  ?" — "The 
latter  part  of  January  last." 

"  Did  you  know  then  of  Pinkerton's  agency  having  any  other 
men  employed  in  the  same  line  that  you  were  employed  in  ? " — 
"  I  knew  there  had  been  another  man,  but  whether  he  was  em- 
ployed then  I  do  not  know." 

"  Have  you  lately,  within  the  last  few  days,  ascertained,  and 
do  you  know  the  fact,  that  you  have  seen  any  Pinkerton  men  in 
these  meetings?" — "  That  is  so." 

,l  But  you  did  not  know  it  at  that  time  ?  " — "  I  did  not  know 
it  at  that  time." 

"  How  often  did  you  drill  with  the  armed  section  ?" — "  Only 
twice." 

"  How  often  did  they  drill  ?  " — "  Once  a  week." 

"  Have  you  got  any  information  from  any  other  members 
of  the  organization  ?     If  they  drilled  after  that  ?" 

Objected  to  and  withdrawn. 

"Did  you  ascertain  from  any  of  the  defendants  if  they 
drilled  after  that  ?  " — "  I  did  not." 

"Have  you  had  any  other  talk  with  Parsons  outside  of  these 
utterances  ?  " — "  I  have." 

"  Have  you  had  any  talk  with  Spies,  Fielden,  Parsons,  and 
other  defendants  as  to  the  purposes  of  their  organization  ?" — "  I 
have  talked  frequently  with  Parsons  and  Fielden  at  various  times 

26 


402  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

and  at  various  places.  I  cannot  recollect  as  to  what  was  said  at 
each  place  and  when  it  was  said." 

"  Can  you  give  me  the  substance  or  purport  of  what  was 
said  at  any  time  ?" 

Captain  Black  objected,  unless  time  and  place  were  given. 

"  What  was  the  object  of  the  armed  section  as  was  expressed 
by  the  members  ?" — "  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  armed  section 
the  discussion  arose  as  to  what  the  company  should  be  called. 
Some  one  suggested  that  the  company  should  be  amalgamated 
with  the  German  organization,  and  the  company  was  to  be  called 
the  Fourth  Company  of  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein.  This  idea 
was  opposed  and  finally  it  was  decided  that  it  should  be  called 
the  International  Rifles.  It  was  further  said  and  understood  by 
all  the  members  that  in  case  of  a  conflict  with  the  authorities  the 
International  Rifles  were  to  act  in  concert  with  the  Lehr  und 
Wehr  Verein,  and  obey  the  orders  of  the  officers  of  that  organ- 
ization." 

"  What  was  said  at  any  time  as  to  when  this  revolution  was 
to  take  place — when  was  to  be  the  culmination  of  the  conflict  ?  " 
— "  The  ist  of  May  was  frequently  mentioned  as  a  good  oppor- 
tunity." 

"What  ist  of  May?" — "This  present.  As  far  as  I  remem- 
ber it  was  at  a  meeting  at  Twelfth  street  Turner  hall  on  one 
occasion  in  December,  and  it  was  the  defendant  Fielden  that  said 
the  ist  of  May  would  be  the  time  to  strike  the  blow.  There 
would  be  so  many  strikes  and  there  would  be  50,000  men  out  of 
work — that  is  to  say  if  the  eight-hour  movement  was  a  failure." 

"Have  you  ever  met  any  of  them  at  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung 
office?" — "I  have." 

"What  conversation  did  you  have  ?" — "I  had  a  conversation 
with  Parsons  sometime  in  March.  The  conversation  took  place 
in  the  Alarm  office  in  the  Arbeitei'  Zeitwig  building.  This  office 
is  situated  in  the  back  of  the  building." 

"Well,  state  what  you  remember  of  the  conversation." — "I 
asked  Parsons  if  he  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  get  some  papers 
printed  in  the  Scandinavian  language,  as  I  thought  I  could  make 
use  of  them.  I  intended  to  distribute  them  among  the  Scandi- 
navian people  along  Milwaukee  avenue  and  that  neighborhood. 
Parsons  replied  :  'Yes,  it  is  a  good  idea,  and  the  best  thing  you 
can  do  is  to  bring  the  matter  up  in  our  next  meeting.  Bring  it 
up  before  the  meeting,  and  I  will  see  that  it  is  attended  to.  It 
is  no  use,  we  must  have  the  Scandinavians  with  us.'  " 

"Did  you  have  any  talk  with  any  of  these   defendants  about 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  403 

the  purposes  and  objects  of  the  social  revolution,  so  called?"  — 
"I  have  had  numerous  conversations  with  Fielden  and  Parsons, 
but  I  cannot  remember  distinctly  what  was  said." 

"What  was  Parsons'  relation  to  the  Alarm?" — "He  was  the 
editor." 

"Did  you  ever  see  a  book  by  Most  called  'The  Modern 
Science  of  Revolutionary  Warfare?'  Look  at  that  book  and  state 
whether  you  have  seen  it  before." — "I  have." 

'Where?" — "I  have  seen  it  at  meetings  at  Twelfth  street 
Turner  hall ;  at  No.  54  West  Lake  street,  and  also  at  No.  106 
Randolph." 

"Who  had  charge  of  the  distribution  of  it?" — "The  Chair- 
man." 

"Of  the  respective  meetings  ?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"Were  they  sold  or  given  away  ?" — "They  were  sold." 

"Do  you  know  whether  or  not  any  steps  were  taken  to  dis- 
tribute the  Alarm  ?" 

"There  were  a  number  of  those  present  at  that  particular 
meeting  who  bought  a  number  of  copies  of  the  Alarm,  and  said 
that  they  would  try  their  best  to  sell  them  and  obtain  new  sub- 
scribers." 

"Do  you  know  a  man  named  Schneider  and  one  Thomas 
Brown  ?" — Yes,  sir." 

"Did  they  belong  to  the  American  group  ?" — "Both  of 
them." 

"Did  they  belong  to  the  armed  section  ?" — "Both  of  them." 

"Where  usually  did  the  American  group  meet  before  the 
time  you  ceased  your  connection  with  it  ?" 

"During  the  last  few  meetings  it  met  at  No.  106  Randolph 
street." 

''Prior  to  that  where  did  it  meet?" — "It  had  met  at  No.  54 
West  Lake  street,  also  at  No.  45  North  Clark  street,  and  on  the 
Lake  front." 

"Did  you  ever  meet  with  the  American  group  at  No.  107 
Fifth  avenue?" — "No,  sir." 

"No.  636  Milwaukee  avenue  was  the  place  mentioned  as  the 
proper  place  for  drilling.  Were  you  ever  there  ?" — "I  was 
there." 

"Did  they  meet  more  than  once  there?" — "I  don't  know." 

"Do  you  know  what  the  hall  is  called  ?" — "I  do." 

"What  is  it  ?"— "Thalia  hall." 

"When  you  joined  this  organization  did  it  cost  you  any- 
thing ?" — "Ten  cents." 


404  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"How  often  did  you  pay  the  contributions?" — "Once  a 
month." 

"How  much  ?" — "Ten  cents." 

"When  you  joined  the  armed  section  did  that  require  any 
special  contribution  ?" — "No,  sir." 

"What  was  Fielden's  office  in  the  group  of  the  armed 
section  ?" 

"He  was  Treasurer  and  Secretary  of  the  organization — of 
the  group." 

"Did  he  hold  any  office,  or  was  he  simply  a  private  in  the 
armed  section  ?" 

"He  held  no  office  while  I  attended  there." 

CROSS-EXAMINED. 

Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Foster  : — "Where  were  you  before 
you  came  here  ?" 

"I  was  a  police  officer  in   England  eight  years." 

"In  uniform?" — "Part  of  the  time." 

"How  long  did  you  do  detective  service  there?" — "Three 
years." 

"At  what  place?" — "In  Lancashire." 

"How  long  have  you  been  with  Pinkerton  ?" — "Three  years." 

"What  did  you  do  before  you  became  a  detective  here  ? 
Were  you  ever  in  any  legitimate  business?" 

Mr.  Grinnell — "In  any  other  legitimate  business  ?" 

Witness — "I  was  storekeeper  at  the  Windsor  hotel." 

"Was  that  meeting  at  Baum's  hall  a  public  one  ?" — "It  was." 

"March  i  you  became  a  member?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"Were  your  antecedents  inquired  into?" — "No,  sir." 

"You  just  paid  your  ten  cents  and  were  received  ?" — "Yes, 
sir." 

"Is  not  that  your  experience,  that  anybody  who  could  pay 
10  cents  could  be  received  ?" — ''Yes,  sir." 

"Did  you  ever  see  anybody  excluded?" — "No,  sir,  except 
reporters.      I  have  seen  reporters  excluded  sometimes." 

"Were  not  reporters  generally  freely  admitted?" — "Not 
very  often." 

"They  had  seats  for  them  and  a  table?" — "I  don't  know. 
I  never  saw  more  than  one  at  a  time  there." 

"Did  you  ever  see  anybody  excluded  by  the  doorkeeper?" 
— "No,  sir." 

"Did  you  ever  have  any  ushers — anybody  who  got  seats  for 
strangers?" 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  405 

"No,  sir  ;  but  I  saw  some  of  the  old  members  get  up  and 
give  their  seats  when  strangers  came  in." 

"You  stated  that  Mr.  Spies  introduced  resolutions  in  sym- 
pathy with  a  girl  ?" 

"Somebody  else  introduced  them  but  Spies  opposed  it.  He 
said  there  was  no  use  making  resolutions." 

"That  is,  the  girl  had  had  her  day  in  court  and  it  was  no  use 
passing  resolutions  ?" 

"He  said  it  would  be  a  good  opportunity  for  some  one  to 
take  a  pistol  and  go  and  shoot  Wight." 

"You  are  sure  Spies  said  that?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"You  wrote  out  your  report  immediately  with  all  the  facts 
fresh  in  your  mind." — "Yes,  I  wrote  it  that  night." 

"Didn't  you  write  in  your  report  [reading  from  it]  that 
Keegan  said  that  after  Spies  got  through  with  his  remarks  ?" — 
"Yes,  but  Mr.  Spies  said  it  also." 

"You  are  sure  of  that  ?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"Will  you  show  me  the  place  in  your  report  where  this  is 
said?" — "I  don't  find  it." 

"Then  your  memory  is  better  now  than  it  was  immediately 
after  the  meeting?" 

"It  is  considerably  better  now  that  I  have  refreshed  it." 

"A  detective's  memory  gets  better  as  the  time  goes  on,  does 
it?" 

Mr.  Grinnell  objected  to  this  kind  of  cross-examination. 

Referring  to  the  charges  against  Sergt.  Patton,  Mr.  Foster 
asked  :  "Were  the  circumstances  stated  that  the  girl  had  been 
grossly  abused,  'but  his  brother  officers  stood  round  and  swore 
him  out?" 

"It  may  have  been." 

"And  was  it  not  stated  as  a  general  expression  that  such  a 
man  ought  to  be  shot  ?" 

"It  may  have  been." 

In  regard  to  the  strike  at  La  Salle,  Mr.  Foster  made  it  ap- 
pear as  if  Parsons  had  simply  stated  in  general  terms  that  if  soap 
was  put  on  the  rails  the  train  would  not  be  able  to  move,  but  that 
he  did  not  advise  anybody  to  go  and  put  the  soap  on.  Fielden's 
remark  that  something  had  been  discovered  by  which  the  working 
men  could  resist  the  police  and  militia,  and  Parsons'  remark  that 
he  would  not  live  on  snowballs  another  winter,  were  represented 
by  Mr.  Foster  in  an  equally  innocent  and  harmless  light.  The 
cross-examination  for  the  day  concluded  with  the  following 
questions  and  answers : 


406  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"You  heard  Fielden  say:  'While  we  march  toward  the 
Board  of  Trade  we  will  sing  the  Marseillaise  hymn?'" — "Yes, 
sir." 

"That  you  understand  to  be  the  French  national  hymn  ?" — 
"Yes,  sir." 

W.  H.  Freeman,  a  reporter,  testified  as  follows  : 

"I  was  at  the  corner  of  Randolph  and  Desplaines  streets. 
Saw  Parsons  speaking,  and  listened  to  what  he  had  to  say.  Some 
one  said  Mayor  Harrison  was  there  and  I  tried  to  find  him.  There 
was  a  big  crowd.  Parsons  said  that  Jay  Gould  was  a  robber, 
and  asked  what  was  to  be  done.  Somebody  shouted,  '  Throw 
him  in  the  lake.'  Parsons  said:  'No,  that  won't  do.  We 
must  overthrow  the  system  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  secure  so 
much  money.'  He  snouted  frequently:  'To  arms!  to  arms!'  and 
the  crowd  applauded.  There  were  six  or  eight  persons  on  the 
wagon.  -Fielden,  the  next  speaker,  discussed  legislation,  saying 
that  Martin  Foran  had  admitted  that  it  was  impossible  for  the 
working  men  to  get  their  rights  through  legislation,  and  that  the 
people  were  fools  to  send  such  a  man  to  Congress  when  he  owned 
that  legislation  could  not  better  them.  He  justified  the  forth- 
coming revolution,  saying  it  was  just  as  proper  as  the  colonial 
revolution.  The  police  came  up  quietly  and  my  first  knowledge 
of  it  was  the  command  to  disperse.  Then  the  bomb  exploded. 
It  made  a  terrible  noise,  and  a  moment  after  the  firing  com- 
menced. Parsons,  Spies,  and  Fielden  were  on  the  wagon,  and  I 
think  I  saw  Schwab  there.  I  crouched  down  behind  the  wagon 
until  after  the  firing  was  over ;  then  I  went  to  the  Desplaines 
street  station.  On  getting  out  on  the  street  I  saw  two  officers 
lying  wounded.  I  spoke  to  them,  but  they  didn't  answer,  so  I 
told  the  sergeant  of  a  patrol-wagon  about  it." 

Officer  McKeogh  testified: 

"I  was  at  the  Haymarket  on  the  night  of  May  4.  Parsons 
followed  Spies,  saying:  'I  am  a  Socialist  from  the  top  of  my 
head  to  the  soles  of  my  feet,  and  I'll  express  my  sentiments  if  I 
die  before  morning.'  Again  he  said:  'I  pay  rent  for  the  house  I 
live  in.'  Someone  asked:  'What  does  the  landlord  do  with  the 
money?'  Parsons  replied:  'I  am  glad  you  asked  that  question. 
The  landlord  pays  taxes,  they  go  to  pay  the  sheriff,  the  militia, 
and  the  Pinkertonites.'  The  crowd  cheered,  then  Parsons  cried: 
'To  arms!  to  arms!'  and  Fielden  took  the  stand.  He  said:  'The 
law  does  not  protect  you,  working  men.  Did  the  law  protect 
you  when  the  police  shot  down  your  brothers  at  McCormick's  ? 
Did  the  law  protect  you  when    McCormick  closed  the  doors  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  407 

his  factory  and  left  you  and  your  wives  and  children  to  starve  ? 
I  say  throttle  the  law  ;  strangle  it,  kill  it!' " 

H.  E.  O.  Heineman,  formerly  a  reporter  on  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung,  was  asked  : 

11  Mr.  Heineman,  you  were  formerly  an  Internationalist?  " — 
"  Yes,  sir." 

"When  did  you  cease  your  connection  with  them?" — 
u  About  two  years  ago." 

"Whom  of  the  defendants  do  you  know  that  were  in  that 
association  or  society  before  you  left  it  ? " — "  Of  my  own  knowl- 
edge I  know  none  but  one,  that  is  Neebe.  He  used  to  belong 
to  the  same  group  that  I  did." 

"  Did  you  ever  meet  with  any  of  the  others  at  any  of  the 
meetings?" — "Yes;  Spies,  Schwab,  and,  I  think,  Parsons." 

"  That  was  about  the  time  Herr  Most  came  here  and  deliv- 
ered some  speeches  ?  " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"  And  it  was  on  account  of  those  speeches  you  severed  your 
connection  with  the  Anarchists  ?  " — "  Yes." 

"  Whom  did  you  see  on  the  speakers'  wagon  at  the  Hay- 
market  ?  " — "  I  saw  the  speakers,  Spies,  Schwab  and  Fielden,  and 
Rudolph  Schnaubelt,  whom  I  had  formerly  known  from  my  con- 
nection with  the  Internationalists." 

"  You  say  Schnaubelt  was  on  the  wagon.  How  long  after 
the  cloud  came  up  and  the  crowd  thinned  out  did  you  see  him  ?" 
— "  I  cannot  say." 

"  Well,  how  long  before  the  police  came  did  you  miss 
Schnaubelt?  "•— "  I  cannot  say  ;  perhaps  ten  minutes." 

"You  say  Mr.  Neebe  was  a  member  of  the  Internationalist 
organization.  Now,  you  didn't  have  any  passwords,  did  you  ? 
It  wasn't  an  organization  where  you  drilled,  was  it  ?" — "  It  was 
an  avowed  Socialistic  order." 

Another  sensational  witness  was  Harry  L.  Gilmer,  a  work- 
man, who  testified  that  he  saw  Spies  and  Rudolph  Schnaubelt 
standing  inside  the  mouth  of  the  alley  at  the  Haymarket ;  that 
Spies  lit  a  match  for  Schnaubelt,  who  in  turn  lit  the  fuse  of  the 
bomb  and  threw  it  among  the  police.  An  effort  was  made  to 
shake  the  testimony  of  this  witness,  which  was  not  successful, 
and  witnesses  were  then  brought  forward  to  impeach  his  veracity, 
but  the  state  produced  many  prominent  men  who  knew  him,  and 
who  stated  that  they  would  believe  him  under  oath. 

Captain  Frank  Schaack,  in  charge  of  the  East  Chicago 
avenue  police  station,  who  unearthed  the  Anarchists'  conspiracy 
after  the  Haymarket,  was  called  to  the  stand,  on  Thursday,  July 
29.       Lingg's   trunk  was  placed  before  him.     He  was  asked: 


408  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

"Do  you  know  any  of  the  defendants  in  this  case?" 

"I  have  seen  Spies,  Schwab,  and  Parsons,  and  Engel  and 
Lingg  were  arrested  and  confined  in  my  station." 

"When  did  you  first  converse  with  Lingg  about  this  case  ?" 

"About  3  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  May  14.  First  I 
asked  him  his  name.  He  told  me.  I  asked  him  if  he  was  at  the 
meeting  at  54  Lake  street  on  Tuesday  night.  He  said:  'Yes.' 
Then  he  said  he  made  dynamite.  I  asked  him  what  for.  He 
said:  'To  use  then.'  He  looked  excited.  I  asked  why  he  dis- 
liked the  police.  He  said  he  had  a  reason  ;  the  police  clubbed 
the  men  at  McCormick's.  He  said  he  was  down  on  the  police 
because  they  took  the  part  of  the  capitalists.  I  said:  'Why  don't 
you  use  guns  instead  of  dynamite  ?'  He  said  guns  wouldn't  do; 
that  the  militia  would  outnumber  the  Socialists.  I  asked  him 
how  he  learned  to  make  dynamite.  He  said  out  of  books  and 
that  he  made  bombs  out  of  gas-pipe  and  out  of  lead  and  metal 
mixed.  He  said  he  got  the  lead  on  the  streets  and  the  gas-pipe 
along  the  river  or  anywhere  he  could." 

"What  other  conversation  did  you  have  ?" 

"Lingg  said  he  made  those  bombs  and  meant  to  use  them. 
Then  Mrs.  Seliger  accused  him  of  making  bombs  a  few  weeks 
after  he  came  to  her  house.  I  knew  then  that  he  had  made  a 
good  many.  John  Thielen  was  arrested  at  the  same  time,  and 
from  him  we  got  two  bombs.  I  said  to  Lingg:  'This  man  says 
you  gave  him  the  bombs.  What  have  you  to  say  ?'  He  looked 
at  Thielen  and  shook  his  head,  and  Thielen  said  :  'Oh,  it's  no 
use,  everything  is  known;  you  might  just  as  well  talk.'  But 
Lingg  refused  to  say  anything." 

"Anything  else  ?" 

"Well,  this  trunk  here  was  brought  to  my  office.  Under 
the  lining  I  found  a  lot  of  dynamite  and  some  fuse  and  asked  him 
if  that  was  the  kind  of  dynamite  he  used.  He  said  it  was  ;  that 
he  got  it  at  a  store  on  Lake  street.  There  were  three  kinds  of 
dynamite.  He  said  he  experimented  once  with  a  long  bomb;  that 
he  put  it  in  a  tree,  touched  it  off,  and  that  it  riddled  the  tree  to 
atoms.  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  Spies.  He  said  'Yes,  for  some 
time  ;'  that  he  was  often  at  the  Arbeiter  Zeituug  office.  I 
asked  him  how  long  he  had  been  a  Socialist.  He  said  he'd  been 
a  Socialist  as  long  as  he  could  think." 

"Did  you  have  any  conversation  with  Engel  ?" 
"Yes,  on  the  18th,    in  the  evening,   I  asked  him  where   he 
was  May  3.      He  said  he  worked  for  a  man  named  Koch.      I 
asked  him  if  he  made  a  speech  at  the  meeting  at  54  Lake  street. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  409 

He  said  no,  but  that  he  was  at  the  meeting.  The  second  time  I 
talked  with  him  his  wife  came.  She  brought  him  a  bunch  of 
flowers.  He  got  excited,  and  cried:  'What  good  are  those  flow- 
ers to  me?  Here  I  am,  locked  up  in  a  dark  cell.'  Then  his 
wife  said:  'Papa,  see  what  trouble  you've  got  yourself  into; 
why  haven't  you  stopped  this  nonsense?'  He  said:  'Mamma, 
I  can't.  I  am  cursed  with  eloquence.  What  is  in  a  man  must 
come  out.  Louise  Michel  suffered  for  the  cause.  She  is  a 
woman  ;  why  should  I  not  suffer  ?  I  am  a  man,  and  I  will  stand 
it  like  a  man." 

"How  many  bombs  in  all  did  you  find  ?" — Objected  to. 

"Tell  the  jury  what  experiments  you  made  with  those 
bombs  ?" 

"  One  bomb  found  in  Lingg's  room,  which  Schuettler  said 
was  loaded  with  a  funnel,  I  put  in  a  box  two  feet  square  and 
buried  in  the  ground  three  feet  deep  at  Lake  View.  Officers 
Stift,  Rehm,  and  Loewenstein  were  there.  We  touched  the 
bomb  off.  It  blew  the  box  to  pieces,  fragments  carried  off  the 
branches  of  trees  and  the  ground  was  torn  up  for  a  great  dis- 
tance. This  black  dynamite,  also  found  in  Lingg's  room,  was  put 
in  a  beer  keg.  Part  of  this  dynamite  Lingggaveto  Thielen,  and 
this  is  a  fragment  of  a  round  bomb  I  experimented,  with.  On 
top  of  this  bomb  I  had  a  round  piece  of  iron  thirty-four  inches 
wide,  some  heavy  planks,  a  piece  of  steel  forty-two  inches  wide 
and  weighing  180  pounds  ;  then  an  iron  boiler  twenty-two  inches 
wide  and  fourteen  inches  high ;  then  on  top  of  that  a  stone 
weighing  132  pounds.  The  stone  was  burst  to  pieces,  nine  holes 
were  shot  through  the  iron  boiler,  the  steel  cover  was  cracked, 
and  the  planks  were  split  into  kindling  wood.  Portions  of  the 
other  bombs  I  cut  off,  and  gave  them  to  Profs.  Haines  and 
Paton." 

There  are  bushels  of  bombs  before  the  jury.  Coils  of  fuse 
are  unwound.  Dynamite  in  paper  packages  and  in  tin  boxes  is 
displayed.  The  courtroom  looks  like  the  interior  of  an  arsenal  so 
far  as  the  tremendous  character  of  the  explosives  is  concerned. 
Pieces  of  metal,  gas-pipe,  tin  cans,  and  iron  boxes  rattle  together. 
Capt.  Schaack,  pointing  to  the  bombs,  says  he  got  two  from  Hoff- 
man, one  from  Fireman  Miller,  and  one  from  Officer  Loewenstein. 
He  is  not  allowed  to  tell  how  many  bombs  in  all  he  received  until 
the  officers  first  tell  where  the  bombs  were  found. 

"Now  about  those  conversations.  Did  Lingg  say  any- 
thing about  the  use  of  those  bombs  ?  " 

"He  said  he  intended  to  use  them  against  the  Gatling-guns 


4-IO  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

of  the  militia ;  that  a  revolution  was  impending.  I  asked  him 
about  that  satchel  he  brought  to  Neff's  place.  He  said  he  saw 
one  there.  Then  I  asked  him  where  he  got  the  moulds  to 
mould  the  round  bombs.  He  said  he  made  them  out  of  clay  ; 
that  they  could  be  used  about  two  times,  then  they  were  no  good. 
He  said  he  saw  the  '  Revenge'  circular  on  the  West  side." 

"Who  did  he  say  was  at  his  place  May  4?" — "He  said 
about  six  in  all,  but  he  only  knew  the  two  Lehmans." 

Capt.  Schaack  is  asked  by  Mr.  Ingham  whether  he  experi- 
mented with  fuse. 

"I  did.  I  also  experimented  with  dynamite  cartridges.  I 
had  one  inserted  into  a  stone  weighing  perhaps  thirty  pounds. 
The  explosion  broke  this  stone  into  atoms." 

Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Foster. — "What  Lingg  said  to  you, 
Captain,  was  substantially  this  :  That  there  was  to  be  a  conflict 
between  the  police  and  the  Gatling  guns  on  one  side  and  the 
laboring  men  on  the  other,  and  that  he  was  making  these  bombs 
to  use  when  that  time  came  ?" 

"That's  about  it,  only  he  said  the  time  had  actually  come." 

"Those  experiments  you  made  were  made  for  your  own  sat- 
isfaction ?" 

"They  were  made  to  enable  me  to  testify  to  the  character  of 
the  stuff  that  was  found." 

"As  a  matter  of  fact  you  woke  up  Engel  in  his  cell  after 
midnight  to  interrogate  him,  didn't  you  ?" 

"Well,  I  don't  remember.  If  I  did,  I  did,  and  I  suppose  I 
did.      I  had  a  right  to  do  it." 

"Do  you  know  of  two  detectives  at  your  station  who  went 
to  Lingg's  cell  late  at  night  and  exhibited  a  rope  saying  they 
were  going  to  hang  him  ?" 

"I  do  not,  and  I  do  not  believe  anything  of  the  kind  was 
done." 

Officer  Hoffman,  of  the  Larrabee  street  station,  testified 
that  he  found  nine  round  bombs  and  four  long  ones  under  a 
sidewalk  near  Clyde  street  and  Clybourn  avenue. 

"  Who  was  with  you  at  the  time  ?" — "  Gustav  Lehman." 

Under  John  Thielen's  house  the  witness  found  two  long 
bombs,  two  boxes  of  cartridges,  two  cigar  boxes  full  of  dynamite, 
one  rifle,  and  one  revolver. 

"  What  else  ?" — "  Lehman  pointed  out  to  me  a  can  holding 
about  a  gallon,  and  this  was  filled  with  dynamite." 

"  Look  at  this  box  of  caps.  Where  did  you  find  them  ?  " — 
"  They  were  with  the  dynamite.  They  were  all  under  the  side- 
walk on  Clybourn  avenue,  back  of  Ogden's  grove." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  41  I 

Assistant  States-Attorney  Frank  Walker  opened  the  pro- 
ceedings Friday,  July  30,  by  reading  extracts  from  Parsons' 
Alarm,  dated  May  2  of  this  year.  It  was  a  speech  delivered  by 
Parsons  April  29,  the  night  the  new  Board  of  Trade  was  dedi- 
cated, and  that  occasion  afforded  the  speaker  his  subject.  The 
speech  was  full  of  rabid  utterances,  of  which  the  following  are 
samples  : 

"  To-night  the  property  owners  are  dedicating  a  temple  for 
the  plunder  of  the  people.  We  assemble  as  Anarchists  and 
Communists  to  protest  against  the  system  of  society  founded  on 
spoliation  of  the  people."  In  conclusion  Parsons  advised  his 
hearers  to  save  their  money  and  buy  revolvers  and  rifles,  and 
recommended  the  use  of  dynamite. 

Under  date  of  December  26,  1885,  the  Alarm  contained  a 
long  description  of  what  qualities  should  center  in  a  revolution- 
ist. "  The  revolutionist,"  it  was  said,  "  must  dedicate  his  life 
exclusively  to  his  idea,  living  in  this  world  only  for  the  purpose 
of  more  surely  destroying  it.  He  hates  every  law  and  science, 
and  knows  of  but  one  science — that  of  destruction.  He  despises 
public  sentiment  and  social  morality.  All  his  sentiments  of 
friendship,  love  and  sympathy  must  be  suppressed.  Equally 
must  he  hate  everything  that  stands  in  the  way  to  the  attainment 
of  his  ends.  He  must  have  but  one  thought — merciless  revolu- 
tion ;  he  must  be  bound  by  no  ties,  and  must  not  hesitate  to 
destroy  all  institutions  and  systems." 

On  February  6,  1886,  the  Alarm  paid  its  respects  to  Cap- 
tain Bonfield,  and  the  attention  of  the  revolutionists  was  called 
to  the  clubbing  done  by  the  police  at  the  time  of  the  carmen's 
strike,  by  saying  :  "American  sovereigns,  if  you  don't  like  this, 
get  guns  or  dynamite." 

The  names  of  those  appointed  to  act  as  a  bureau  of  inform- 
ation for  the  Anarchists  were  printed  in  the  Alarm  under  date 
January  9,  1886.  Joseph  Bock,  B.  Ran,  August  Spies,  A.  R. 
Parsons  and  Anton  Hirschberger  were  the  names  given.  On 
March  20,  1886,  the  Alarm  said  :  "All  argument  is  no  good  un- 
less based  on  force." 

On  another  occasion,  speaking  of  the  eight  hour  movement, 
it  was  said  :  "  All  roads  lead  to  Rome  ;  so  must  all  labor  move- 
ments lead  to  Socialism."  Later  the  Alarm  said:  "One  pound 
of  dynamite  is  better  than  a  bushel  of  ballots.  Working  men, 
to  arms  !  Death  to  luxurious  idleness  !  "  All  articles  from 
which  these  extracts  were  taken  had  Parsons'  name  appended  as 
the  writer.     April  24,  the  date  of  the  last  issue  of  the  Alarm, 


412  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

the  Knights  of  Labor  were  assailed  "for  attempting  to  prevent 
the  people  from  exterminating  the  predatory  beasts — the  capi- 
talists." Mr.  Ingham  reads  from  Herr  Most's  book  a  descrip- 
tion of  an  infernal  machine  to  burn  down  buildings.  This  appa- 
ratus is  described  as  of  wonderful  efficiency  and  dirt  cheap.  It 
is  read  to  secure  the  admission  as  evidence  of  the  four  tin  boxes 
spoken  of  by  Detective  Jansen,  who  saw  them  exhibited  at  54 
West  Lake  street. 

The  Court  is  not  sure  the  contents  in  both  cases  are  the 
same,  and  Officer  Coughlin,  of  the  Chicago  avenue  station,  is 
put  on  the  stand  to  prove  the  character  of  the  compound.  He 
experimented  with  one  can  by  means  of  a  fulminating  cap.  He 
tried  to  explode  the  can  but  failed,  then  he  attached  a  fuse  and 
an  explosion  followed.  A  quantity  of  burning  liquid,  much  re- 
sembling vitriol,  was  distributed  in  all  directions,  a  stream  was 
thrown  five  or  six  feet  high,  and  for  a  space  of  ten  feet  in  all  di- 
rections the  grass  was  set  on  fire,  and  it  burned  for  fully  five 
minutes. 

Charles  B.  Prouty  is  called.  He  was  formerly  manager  of 
a  gun  store  on  State  street. 

"  Have  you  ever  seen  any  of  the  defendants  before  ?  " — "  I 
have  seen  Engel  and  Parsons." 

"  When  did  you  converse  with  Engel  last,  before  May  4  ?  " 
— "  Some  time  last  fall.  Mr.  Engel  and  his  wife  called  at  the 
store  and  inquired  for  some  big  revolvers.  They  found  one  that 
suited  them,  to  present  to  some  society.  They  said  they,  wanted 
100  or  200  for  this  society.  A  week  later  they  said  this  revolver 
would  do  and  they  wanted  some  200  revolvers.  I  told  them  I 
thought  I  could  get  them,  but  when  they  came  back  the  second 
time  I  found  I  couldn't.  They  were  much  disappointed  and 
said  they  would  go  some  place  else." 

"What  was  the  price?" — "I  think  $5.50.  They  were 
either  44  or  45  caliber  revolvers." 

"  What  did  you  say  about  the  price  ?  " — "  I  told  them  that 
was  very  cheap  and  said  they  could  make  a  handsome  profit  on 
them.  They  said  they  didn't  want  to  make  any  profit  ;  that  the 
weapons  were  for  a  society." 

Captain  Black,  on  the  cross-examination,  brings  it  out  that 
the  witness  sold  the  gun  to  Engel,  thinking  he  wanted  to  go  into 
some  speculation. 

W.  J.  Reynolds,  also  in  the  gun  business  at  73  State  street, 
has  seen  Parsons,  and  he  thinks  Engel. 

"When  did  you  see  Parsons  relative  to  your  business,  and 
tell  what  it  was  ?" 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  413 

"I  think  it  was  in  February  or  March.  He  came  into  the 
store  and  wanted  to  purchase  about  forty  remodeled  Remington 
guns.  Parsons  spoke  to  me  several  times  about  this  purchase, 
but  it  was  never  made.   Parsons  seemed  undecided." 

"State  whether  your  concern  ever  sold  any  rifle  or  revolver 
cartridges,  which  were  to  be  delivered,  and  were  delivered,  at 
636  Milwaukee  avenue — Thalia  hall  ?" 

This  question  is  overruled  by  the  Court  unless  the  cartridges 
were  delivered  by  the  witness  in  person.  Capt.  Black  takes  the 
witness  in  hand  and  he  said  he  never  knew  Parsons  by  name  un- 
til yesterday,  then  that  person  was  pointed  out  to  him  in  court. 

"That's  all,"  says  Capt.  Black. — "Mr.  Reynolds,"  says  Mr. 
Grinnell,  "was  Parsons  pointed  out  to  you  ?  or  did  you  not  point 
out  the  man  you  had  seen  before  ?" 

"I  pointed  out  the  man  I  had  seen  before." 

A  manuscript  in  Spies'  handwriting  is  offered  in  evidence. 
It  is  a  manuscript  of  an  editorial  which  was  printed  in  the  Arbei- 
ter Zeitung  of  May  4  and  captioned  :  "Blood  and  Powder  as  a 
Cure  for  Dissatisfied  Working  Men."  In  another  part  of  the  pa- 
per was  the  following :  "This  evening  there  is  a  great  meeting  at 
the  Haymarket.      No  working  men  ought  to  stay  away." 

Manuscript  in  Schwab's  handwriting  is  submitted.  This 
matter  appeared  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  May  4,  and  one  passage 
is  as  follows  :  "The  heroes  of  the  club  dispensed  with  their  cud- 
gels yesterday."     This  has  reference  to  the  riot  at  McCormick's. 

Another  extract :  "Reports  of  the  capitalist  papers  have  all 
been  dictated  by  the  police."  Still  another  :  "The  armory  on  the 
Lake  front  isguarded  by  military  tramps."  And  another:  "Milwau- 
kee, usually  so  quiet,  yesterday  became  the  scene  of  quite  a  num- 
ber of  labor  riots."  Under  date  of  May  3,  Spies'  paper  said:  "A 
hot  conflict.  The  termination  of  the  radical  elements  bring 
the  extortioners  in  numerous  instances  to  terms."  January  5, 
1885,  Spies  wrote  concerning  a  report  of  a  meeting  at  54 
West  Lake  street :  "Comrade  Spies,  in  the  course  of  his  speech 
said  :  'And  if  we  commence  to  murder  we  obey  the  law  of  neces- 
sity for  self-preservation.'  "  January  19,  1885,  the  Arbeiter  Zei- 
tung  contained  a  two  column  report  of  a  meeting  held  at  Muel- 
ler's hall.  Dynamite,  blood,  and  bombs  were  the  nice  points 
dealt  with,  and  the  comments  thereon  was  what  the  state  wanted 
read.  But  first  a  translation  should  have  been  made,  and  to  do 
this  an  adjournment  is  taken  until  2  o'clock. 

As  the  trial  progressed  public  interest  in  the  development 
of  the  Anarchist   plot  to   overthrow  law  and   order   increased. 


414  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  courtroom  would  not  hold  half  of  the  people  that  applied 
for  admission,  and  hundreds  were  turned  away.  Scattered 
throughout  the  courtroom  were  numerous  red  flags  and  banners 
of  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein  and  the  various  Anarchist  groups. 
Detective  James  Bonfield  was  recalled  to  identify  the  flags  and 
banners  found  at  the  Arbeiter  Zeitunv  office.  They  were  as  fol- 
lows :  "  In  the  Absence  of  Law  all  Men  are  Free  ;"  "  Every  Gov- 
ernment is  a  Conspiracy  against  the  People  ;"  "  Down  with  all 
Laws  ;''  "  Fifteenth  Section  Boys  Stick  Together  ;"  "  Proletarians 
of  all  Countries,  Unite  ;"  "  International  Working  People's  Asso- 
ciation of  Chicago.  Presented  by  the  Socialistic  Women's  Soci- 
ety July  16,  1875." 

Saturday,  July  31,  the  state  introduced  more  translations 
from  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung.  The  paper  of  January  6,  under  the 
caption  of  "  A  New  Military  Law,"  contained  the  following  edi- 
torials :  "  After  the  adoption  of  the  law  and  its  working  we  have 
learned  a  lesson.  The  vote  of  1881  has  shown  that  we  are 
stronger  than  ever.  There  exists  to-day  an  invisible  network  of 
Socialistic  forces.     We  are  stronger  than  ever." 

On  January  22,  1886,  an  editorial  asked:  "  How  can  the 
eight-hour  day  be  brought  about  ?  Why,  every  clear-headed 
man  can  see  that  the  result  can  be  attained  by  no  other  means 
than  armed  force." 

The  next  day  it  was  said  :  "  The  rottenness  of  our  social 
institutions  cannot  be  covered  up  with  whitewash.  Capital  sucks 
its  force  out  of  the  labor  of  the  working  men.  This  misery  has 
become  unbearable.  Let  us  not  treat  with  our  enemies  on  May 
1.  Therefore,  comrades,  arm  to  the  teeth.  We  want  to  demand 
our  rights  on  May  1." 

Regarding  the  riot  in  London,  a  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Twelfth  street  Turner  hall,  Neebe  presiding;  Fielden  the  orator, 
and  his  speech  and  the  proceedings  were  reported  under  date  of 
Ft-bruary  15.  Fielden  said:  "The  time  is  not  so  far  distant 
when  the  down-trodden  in  Chicago  will  rise  like  their  brothers 
in  London,  and  march  up  Michigan  avenue,  the  red  flag  at  their 
head."  Schwab  spoke,  calling  on  the  people  to  rally  around  the 
red  flag  of  revolution.  An  editorial  on  February  17  said: 
"  Hundreds  and  thousands  of  reasons  indicate  that  force  will 
bring  about  a  successful  termination  in  the  struggle  for  liberty." 
April  10  it  was  said:  "What  happened  yesterday  in  East  St. 
Louis  may  happen  in  Chicago.  It  is  high  time  to  be  prepared 
to  complete  the  ammunition  and  be  ready." 

On  April  22  Spies  wrote  :  "  Working  men,  arm  yourselves. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  415 

May  1  is  close  at  hand."  Six  days  later  he  said  :  "  What  Anar- 
chists predicted  six  months  ago  has  been  realized  now.  The 
power  of  the  manufacturers  must  be  met  by  armed  working  men. 
The  logic  of  facts  requires  this.  Arms  are  more  necessary  now 
than  ever.  It  is  time  to  arm  yourselves.  Whoever  has  not 
money  sell  your  watch  and  buy  firearms.  Patience  has  been 
preached — the  working  men  have  had  too  much  of  patience." 

On  April  29  Spies  wrote:  "  The  wage  slave  who  is  not  ut- 
terly demoralized  should  have  a  breech-loader  in  his  house  " 
And  the  next  day  he  said  :  "As  we  have  been  informed  the  po- 
lice have  received  secret  orders  to  keep  themselves  in  readiness 
for  fear  of  a  riot  on  Saturday  next,  to  the  working  men  we  again 
say  :  Arm  yourselves  !  Keep  your  arms  hidden  so  that  they  will 
not  be  stolen  by  the  minions  of  the  law,  as  has  happened  before." 
In  the  Letter  Box  was  the  following:  "A  dynamite  cartridge 
explodes  not  through  concussion.  A  percussion  primer  is 
necessary." 

January  5,  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung*  a  report  said:  "The  meet- 
ing which  the  American  group  held  at  54  West  Lake  street  was 
one  of  the  best  meetings  ever  held  in  Chicago.  Comrade  Spies 
said:  '  When  we  murder  we  put  an  end  to  general  murder.  We 
only  follow  the  law  of  self-preservation.' " 

On  January  18  all  working  men  were  called  to  attend  a  meet- 
ing at  Steinmetz  hall.  "  To  Arms,"  was  the  caption.  "Those 
who  desire  instruction  in  drilling  will  not  have  to  pay."  At 
Mueller's  hall,  a  few  days  later,  Schwab  made  an  address,  saying: 
"We  have  made  all  preparations  for  a  revolution  by  force." 
Spies  said:  "  I  have  been  accused  by  a  paper  that  I  tried  to  stir 
up  a  revolution:  I  concede  this.  What  is  crime,  anyhow? 
When  the  working  men  try  to  secure  the  fruits  of  their  labor  it 
is  called  crime." 

Guns,  dynamite  and  prussic  acid,  Spies  preached,  should  be 
given  the  working  men,  and  "  for  every  clubbed  head  in 
the  ranks  of  the  working  men  there  should  be  exacted  twelve 
dead  policemen."  In  a  long  discourse  on  the  means  of  action, 
Spies  said:  "  In  the  action  itself  one  must  be  personally  at  the 
place,  to  select  personally  that  point  of  the  place  of  action  which 
is  the  most  important,  and  is  coupled  with  the  greatest  danger, 
upon  which  depends  chiefly  the  success  or  failure  of  the  whole 
affair.  Otherwise  the  thing  would  reach  the  long  ears  of  the 
police,  which,  as  is  known  to  every  one,  hear  the  grass  grow  and 
the  fleas  cough  ;  but  if  this  theory  is  acted  on,  the  danger  of 
discovery  is  extremely  small."     "  The  Love  of  Self-Sacrifice, "  as 


416  POLITICS    AM)    POLITICIANS, 

manifested  by  those  who  were  killed  during  the  uprising  of  the 
Paris  Commune,  while  fighting  under  the  red  flag,  was  the  sub- 
ject of  a  long  address  on  March  22,  and  March  23  it  was  said  the 
question  of  arming  was  the  one  uppermost  in  labor  circles. 
Working  men,  it  was  held,  ought  to  be  armed  long  ago.  Dag- 
gers and  revolvers  were  easily  purchased  ;  hand-grenades  were 
plentiful,  and  so  was  dynamite.  The  approaching  contest  should 
not  be  gone  into  with  empty  hands. 
The  State  here  rested  its  case. 

THE    DEFENSE. 

Attorney  Zeisler  moved  to  have  the  jury  sent  from  the  room 
pending  a  motion,  and  this  the  Court  refused  to  do,  saying  it  was 
a  vicious  practice,  and  that  the  jury  should  hear  all  there  was  in 
a  case. 

Capt.  Black — "The  motion  we  desire  to  make  is  that  your 
Honor  now  instruct  the  jury,  the  State  having  rested,  that  they 
find  a  verdict  of  not  guilty  as  to  Oscar  Neebe  ;  and  we  desire  to 
argue  that  motion.'' 

Counsel  for  the  defense  proceeded  to  argue  the  motion,  and 
held  that  Neebe  was  not  amenable;  not  having  been  present  at 
the  Haymarket,  and  having  nothing  to  do  with  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung  until  after  the  arrest  of  Spies. 

The  Court — "If  he  had  had  prior  knowledge  of  the  partici- 
pation in  the  Haymarket  meeting  the  question  would  be  quite 
different,  but  if  there  is  a  general  advice  to  commit  murder,  and 
the  time  and  occasion  not  being  foreseen,  the  adviser  is  guilty  if 
the  murder  is  committed.  Whether  he  did  participate,  con- 
curred, assented,  or  encouraged  the  publication  of  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung  is  a  question  for  this  jury  upon  the  testimony  that  he  was 
frequently  there,  and  that  so  soon  as  Schwab  and  Spies  were 
away  he  took  charge.  Everything  in  which  his  name  has  been 
mentioned  must  be  taken  together,  and  then  what  the  proper  in- 
ference is,  is  for  the  jury  to  say.'' 

Capt.  Black  — "Does  your  Honor  overrule  the  motion?11 — 
The  Court — "I  overrule  the  motion.'' 

Capt.  Black — "We  except,  if  your  Honor  pleases.  We  de- 
sire also  to  make  a  like  motion,  without  arguing  it,  in  behalf  of 
all  the  defendants  except  Spies  and  Fischer." — Motion  over- 
ruled. 

Mr.  Salomon  then  began  the  opening  argument  for  the  de- 
fense.    There  were  two  leading  points  in  his  argument : 

1.     There  cannot  be  accessories  without  a  principal.     The 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  417 

State  must  prove  that  somebody  was  a  principal  in  committing 
murder  before  it  can  convict  others  as  accessories. 

2.  The  defendants  did  not  throw  the  bomb  ;  therefore  they 
are  not  guilty. 

"True,  the  defendants  made  bombs  ;  true,  they  intended  to 
use  dynamite.  What  if  they  did  ?"  asks  Mr.  Salomon  "They 
were  preparing  for  a  revolution  by  force  of  arms  and  by  means 
of  dynamite — but  what  has  that  to  do  with  the  case  ?  Did  they 
kill  Matthias  J.  Degan,  for  which  act  they  were  specifically  in- 
dicted ?     That  is  the  question." 

Mr.  Salomon  then  argued  that  the  State  would  have  to  prove 
that  the  object  of  the  Haymarket  meeting  was  to  "aggressively 
kill  the  police.1'  He  pointed  out  that  the  defendants  had  conse- 
crated their  lives  to  the  benefit  of  their  fellow  men.  They  did 
not  seek  McCormick's  property  for  themselves — they  did  not 
want  the  goods  in  Marshall  Field's  store  for  themselves.  Their 
methods  were  dangerous,  but  why  were  they  not  stopped  at  their 
inception  ?  They  advocated  force,  because  they  believed  in  force. 
No  twelve  men — no  12,000  men — could  root  out  Anarchy.  An- 
archy is  of  the  head — it  is  implanted  in  the  soul!  As  well  attempt 
to  root  out  Republicanism  or  Democracy!  They  intended  revolu- 
tion— a  revolution  similar  to  that  of  the  Northern  sjtates  against 
slavery,  or  of  America  against  British  oppression.  They  wanted 
to  free  the  white  slaves — the  working  classes.  They  intended  to 
use  dynamite  in  furtherance  of  that  revolution.  But  they  did  not 
expect,  nor  did  they  conspire  to  take,  the  life  of  officer  Degan. 
Lingg  had  the  right  to  manufacture  bombs  and  fill  his  house  with 
dynamite,  if  he  so  pleased.  There  was  no  law  against  it.  Mr.  Salo- 
mon intimated  that  an  attempt  would  be  made  to  show  who  threw 
the  bomb,  or  that  it  was  thrown  by  somebody  other  than  Schnau- 
belt ;  also  that  the  police  began  the  riot  by  shooting  into  the  crowd  ; 
that  Schwab  was  not  at  the  meeting  at  all,  and  that  when  the 
bomb  exploded  Parsons  and  Fischer  were  in  Zephf's  hall  drinking 
beer. 

"We  expect  further  to  show  you,"  said  Mr.  Salomon,  "that 
this  meeting  had  assembled  peaceably,  that  its  objects  were 
peaceable,  that  they  delivered  the  same  harangues,  that  the 
crowd  listened  quietly,  that  not  a  single  act  transpired  there  pre- 
vious to  the  coming  of  the  police  for  which  any  man  in  it  could 
be  held  amenable  to  law.  They  assembled  there  under  the  pro- 
visions of  our  Constitution  in  the  exercise  of  their  right  of  free 
speech,  to  discuss  the  situation  of  the  working  men,  to  discuss 
the  eight-hour  question.      They  assembled  there  and  incidentally 

27 


41 8  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

discussed  what  they  called  the  outrages  perpetrated  at  McCor- 
mick's.  No  man  expected  that  bomb  would  be  thrown,  no  man 
expected  that  any  one  would  be  injured  at  that  meeting." 

The  witness  who  gave,  perhaps,  the  strongest  evidence  for 
the  defense  was  Dr.  James  D.  Taylor,  an  aged  physician  of  the 
Eclectic  school.    On  the  direct  examination,  Captain  Black  asked: 

"  How  old  are  you?"  Answer — "  I  am  seventy-six  years  of 
age." 

"Where  were  you  on  May  4,  in  the  evening?" — "At  the 
Hay  market." 

"  Tell  us  when  you  reached  the  Hay  market." — "About 
twenty  minutes  before  the  speaking  commenced." 

"  During  that  twenty  minutes  where  were  you  ?" — "  I  was 
standing  in  the  alley — Crane's  alley — near  Desplaines  street." 

"How  near  to  the  west  edge  of  the  sidewalk?" — "Very 
close  to  it." 

"How  long  did  you  occupy  that  position?" — "As  long  as 
the  bullets  would  let  me. 

"  How  long  was  that?"  asks  Mr.  Grinnell. — "  I  was  the  last 
man  that  left  the  alley  after  the  bomb  exploded." 

"  Did  you  hear  the  speeches  at  the  Haymarket?" — "Oh, 
yes  ;  distinctly." 

"  What  did  Spies  say?  " — "  He  spoke  about  Jay  Gould,  and 
some  one  said:  '  Hang  him,'  and  Spies  said:  '  No,  it  is  not  time 
for  that.'" 

'What  did  Parsons  say?" — "  He  spoke  of  the  necessity  for 
union.  The  substance  of  his  remarks  was  that  if  the  working 
men  expected  to  win  they  must  unite." 

"  Did  you  notice  the  approach  of  the  police  ?" — "I  did;  the 
first  column  came  up  close  to  where  I  was  standing.  They  were 
so  close  I  could  touch  them." 

"  Did  you  hear  Fielden  ?  "— "  Yes." 

"  What  did  he  say  ? " — "  Well,  he  spoke  about  the  law,  and 
said:  '  It  is  your  enemy.  Kill  it,  stab  it,  throttle  it;  if  you 
don't,  it  will  throttle  you.'" 

"  Did  you  hear  the  command  given  to  disperse  ? " — "Yes, 
sir." 

"  What  did  Fielden  say?  " — "  He  said:  '  We  are  peaceable,' 
or  '  This  is  a  peaceable  meeting.'  " 

"  Did  you  see  Fielden  again?" — "  I  did.  He  got  down  out 
of  the  wagon  and  came  around  where  I  was  standing." 

"  Did  you  see  him  with  a  revolver  ?  " — "  I  did  not." 

"  Did  you  see  him  shoot  at  all  ? " — "  Never.      I  did  not." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  419 

"  Did  you  see  the  bomb?" — "  I  did." 

"  Where  did  it  come  from?  " — "About  twenty  feet,  or  per- 
haps forty,  south  of  the  alley,  behind  some  boxes  on  the 
sidewalk." 

"  Now,  tell  what  you  saw." — "  Well,  the  bomb  looked  to  me 
like  a  boy's  fire-cracker.  It  was  then  about  five  feet  in  the  air. 
It  circled  in  a  southeast  direction,  and  fell,  I  think,  between  the 
first  and  second  columns  of  the  police." 

"When  did  the  shooting  commence?" — "Almost  simul- 
taneously." 

"  Did  the  firing  proceed  from  the  crowd,  or  the  police  ?" — 
"  It  came  from  the  street,  near  where  the  police  were." 

"  Did  you  see  or  hear  of  any  pistol-shots  from  the  crowd  ?  " 
— "Not  one." 

"You  say  you  went  to  the  Haymarket  the  next  morning. 
Did  you  make  any  examination  of  the  neighborhood  ?" — "  I  did." 

"  Did  you  find  any  marks  of  bullets  in  the  walls  around 
there?" — "Yes,  a  great  many.  They  were  in  the  north  end  of 
the  wall  of  Crane  Bros.'  building.  Then  I  examined  a  telegraph 
pole  north  of  the  alley,  on  the  west  side  of  the  street.  There 
were  a  great  many  perforations  on  the  south  side  of  this  pole." 

"Were  there  any  perforations  on  the  north -side  of  the 
pole  ?  " — "  Not  one." 

"  Did  you  visit  the  place  a  second  time  ?" — "  I  did." 

"For  the  purpose  of  examining  this  telegraph  pole?" — 
-Yes,  sir." 

"Tell  the  jury  whether  you  found  the  pole  there  or  not." — 
"  It  was  not  there." 

"  How  long  ago  was  that?" — "A  week." 

"And  the  pole  was  gone  ? " — "  It  was  gone." 

"What  'course  did  you  take,  doctor,  in  going  out  of  the 
alley  ?  " — "  I  took  a  zig-zag  course.  " 

"  Doctor,  are  you  a  Socialist  ?  " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"Are  you  an  Anarchist?" — "Not  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
term  is  usually  employed." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  a  Socialist  ?  " — "About  fifty  years. 
I  was  taught  Socialism  by  Robert  Owen,  father  of  Robert  Dale 
Owen." 

"  Do  you  know  any  of  the  defendants  ?" — "  Yes.  I  know 
Parsons  and  Fielden  well ;  Spies  and  Neebe  slightly." 

"  Have  you  ever  taken  part  in  Socialistic  meetings  ?  " — "  Yes. 
I  have  spoken  at  meetings  controversially." 

"Are  you,  or  were  you,  a  member  of  the  International 
Working  Men's  Society?" — "  I  was." 


420  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

"  For  how  long?" — "Well,  I  continued  a  member  until  the 
organization  was  abandoned." 

"  What  group  were  you  a  member  of?" — "Of  the  American 
group." 

"  Where  did  you  attend  meetings?" — "At  Greif's  hall." 

"  What  were  the  conditions  of  membership?  Tell  the  jury 
whether  those  meetings  were  secret  or  public." — "They  were 
public.  The  conditions  of  membership  were — "  This  answer 
was  objected  to  by  the  State,  and  the  Court  sustains  the  objection. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  a  member  of  the  American 
group  ?  " — I  think  a  year,  or  a  little  more.'" 

"  How  often  have  you  met  Parsons  and  Fielden?  " — ■"  They 
have  not  been  regular  in  their  attendance." 

"  Now,  taking  them  in  their  order,  will  you  state  what  you 
heard  them  say,  either  on  the  lake  front  or  at  any  hall,  regarding 
the  use  of  force  ?  "  Captain  Black  withdraws  this  question  at 
once  upon  consultation  with  his  associates. 

Mr.  Ingham  then  takes  up  the  cross-examination:  "  How 
did  you  come  to  go  to  the  Haymarket,  doctor?" — "  I  happened  to 
be  in  the  neighborhood,  taking  my  usual  evening  walk." 

"  Did  you  see  any  circular  ?  " — "  I  did  not." 

"  How  did  you  come  to  attend  the  meeting,  then  ?  " — "  I 
saw  a  great  many  people,  who  told  me  there  was  to  be  a 
meeting." 

"  Did  you  go  at  once  to  the  alley  ?  " — "  I  did." 

"Are  you  sure  you  did  not  stop  on  the  Haymarket  ?" — "  I  am 
sure  I  did  not." 

"  Why,  then,  did  you  go  in  the  alley  ?" — "  To  hear  what  was 
to  be  said." 

"  What  time  did  you  get  there  ?  " — "A  little  after  7  o'clock." 

"And  you  stopped  there  all  the  time  ?  " — "  Yes." 

"  How  long  did  you  wait  ?  " — "About  twenty  minutes." 

"  Then  the  meeting  was  opened  ?  " — "  It  was." 

"And  you  listened  to  Spies?" — "Yes." 

*'  What  did  he  say?  " — "  The  substance  of  what  he  said  was 
that  the  men  had  better  go  home,  and  not  do  any  violence." 

(The  witness  confounds  Spies  and  Parsons.  The  former, 
according  to  other  witnesses,  made  no  reference  to  Jay  Gould, 
but  Parsons  did.  The  doctor  says  also  that  Parsons  told  the 
men  that  the  history  of  strikes  showed  all  strikes  to  have  proved 
a  failure  ;  that  what  was  wanted  was  a  change  in  the  system.) 

"  Did  you  see  Fielden  all  the  time  he  was  speaking  ?" — "  I 
did." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  .  42 1 

11  And  he  had  no  revolver?" — "  He  had  not." 

"  Did  you  keep  your  eye  on  him  all  the  time  ?  " — "  Every 
minute." 

"  You  did  not  take  your  eye  off  him  for  a  single  minute?" 
— "  Not  half  a  minute." 

"  And  you  saw  him  just  as  he  closed  his  speech  ? " — "  I  did. 
He  got  down  out  of  the  wagon  and  was  standing  close  to  me." 

"  Where  did  he  go  after  the  bomb  exploded  ?  " —  "  The  Lord 
only  knows  what  became  of  him.  The  demoralization  was  so 
great  that  I  don't  know.  I  think  he  was.  one  of  the  first  men  to 
go  down  after  the  shell  exploded." 

"  Well,  how  long  did  you  remain  there?" — "  I  was  the  last 
man  to  go  up  the  alley.     There  was  a  great  crowd  ahead  of  me." 

"  Were  the  bullets  thick  ?  " —  "  Well,  I  should  say  they  were." 

"  Yet  you  didn't  run  ?  " — "  Well,  I  am  an  old  man,  and  I 
don't  care  much." 

"  What  did  you  do  next,  after  leaving  the  alley  ?" — "  I  went 
farther  down  in  the  alley.  I  was  the  last  man  to  go  down  the 
alley.  There  was  a  projection  in  the  alley  and  I  took  refuge 
behind  that." 

"You  were  young  enough  then  to  want  to  live?" — "It 
wasn't  that;  I  heard  the  police  shooting.  They  were  going  back 
toward  the  Haymarket.  I  could  tell  that  by  the  report  of  the 
shooting.  Then  I  ran  out  on  Desplaines  street  and  dodged 
about  till  I  got  home." 

"Where  did  you  dodge?" — "A  good  many  places.  The 
police  were  shooting  all  over.  They  were  all  excited.  I  saw 
them  shooting  as  far  up  as  Madison  street.  One  policeman  on 
Madison  street  I  saw  point  his  revolver  at  a  crowd  of  people  on 
the  street  and  say  :  'D — you!  you've  got  to  die  any  way.'  Then 
he  fired  his  revolver  at  them." 

"  You  say  you  saw  the  bomb  when  it  was  about  five  feet  in 
the  air?"— "  Yes." 

"  Did  you  see  the  fuse  ?  " — "  Yes." 

"  What  kind  of  a  bomb  was  it  ?  " — "  Round." 

"What  happened  after  it  exploded?" — "The  demoraliza- 
tion was  great." 

"  Did  you  hear  any  groans  ?  " — "  No." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  a  physician  ?  " — "  Forty  years." 

"  What  school  ?  "— "  Eclectic." 

"  Are  you  a  graduate  of  any  college  ?  " — "  Yes  ;  Eclectic." 

"You  say  you  are  a  Socialist,  but  not  an  Anarchist  as  it  is 
commonly  defined.     Are  you  an   Anarchist  as  you   understand 


422  .  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

"  Do  you  believe  in  an  oath  ?  " — "  I  do." 

"  Do  you  believe  that  an  oath  adds  anything  to  the  obliga- 
tion to  tell  the  truth?  " — "  No.  All  honest  men  should  tell  the 
truth." 

"That's  all." 

L.  M.  Moses,  a  grocer,  and  Austin  Mitchell,  who  lived  with 
Moses,  testified  that  they  would  not  believe  the  witness  Gilmer 
under  oath.  The  defense  then  introduced  August  Krumm,  of 
1036  West  Twentieth  street,  a  woodworker,  by  whom  they  ex- 
pected to  entirely  offset  Gilmer's  evidence.  From  his  evidence 
it  was  made  to  appear  that  Gilmer  mistook  Krumm  for  Spies, 
and  that  instead  of  lighting  a  bomb  Krumm  was  engaged  in 
nothing  more  harmful  than  lighting  a  pipe  of  tobacco.  Mr.  Fos- 
ter conducts  the  examination,  and  the  witness  says  he  was  at  the 
Haymarket  meeting  May  4,  and  saw  Spies  and  Parsons  there  for 
the  first  time. 

"  How  did  you  come  to  go  there  ?" — "  I  had  business  down 
town  ;  heard  of  the  meeting  and  went  there  with  a  friend,  A.  M. 
Albright." 

"  Now,  how  close  to  the  alley  near  Crane  Brothers  did  you 
stand  ?  " — "  Very  close.  We  stood  there  all  the  time  from  about 
9:30  o'clock  until  the  police  arrived." 

"  Did  you  stand  there  all  the  time?  " — "  No  ;  we  were  gone 
for  a  minute  or  two." 

"  Where  did  you  go  ?  " — "  We  went  into  the  alley.  I  want- 
ed to  light  my  pipe.  Albright  came  with  me.  He  gave  me  a 
pipeful  of  tobacco  and  I  went  into  the  alley  to  light  my  pipe." 

'•  What  did  you  go  into  the  alley  for  ?  " — "  There  was  a  wind 
on  the  street,  and  we  went  into  the  alley  so  the  match  would  not 
go  out." 

"  And  Albright  followed  you  ?  " — "Yes.  He  came  to  light 
his  pipe." 

11  Whose  pipe  was  lighted  first  ?  " — "  Mine." 

"Then  his  pipe  was  lighted?" — "Yes.  He  came  over  to 
me  and  lit  his  pipe  from  the  match  that  lit  my  pipe,  holding  his 
head  up  close  to  mine." 

"  After  you  came  out  of  the  alley  what  did  you  see  ?  " — 
"The  police  were  there  ;  then  the  explosion  followed." 

"  Did  you  see  Spies  go  into  the  alley  ?  " — "  I  did  not." 

"  Did  you  see  anybody  in  the  alley? " — "  Yes.  There  were 
two  or  three  men  there,  but  I  could  not  tell  who  they  were.  It 
was  dark." 

"  Did  anybody  come  into  the  alley  while  you  were  there  ?  " 
— "  No." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  423 

"  Could  anybody  pass  into  the  alley  without  your  knowing 
it?" — "  No,  sir  ;  I  stood  up  close  to  the  building  while  I  was 
lighting  my  pipe." 

"  Now,  tell  whether  you  saw  a  light  in  the  air  about  that 
time  or  a  little  after." — "Yes  ;  I  saw  a  light  like  a  match  about 
twenty  feet  south  of  the  alley  on  Desplaines  street." 

Mr.  Grinnell  takes  the  witness  in  hand.  "You  say  you 
came  down  town  on  business.  Who  did  you  want  to  see?  " — "  A 
friend  of  mine." 

"  Who  is  he  ?  "— "  Adolph  Winness." 

"  Where  does  he  live  ?  " — "  I  do  not  know." 

"  Where  does  he  work?  " — "  I  don't  know  now." 

"  What  does  he  work  at?  " — "  He  is  a  woodworker." 

"  How  did  you  expect  to  meet  him  then,  if  you  did  not  know 
where  he  lived  or  where  he  worked?" — "He  told  me  I  could 
find  him  there." 

"  Find  him  where?  " — "  On  Randolph  street." 

"When  did  you  see  him  last?" — "That  afternoon.  He 
came  out  to  see  me." 

"  And  he  did  not  tell  you  where  he  worked  ?'' — "  No." 

"  Nor  where  he  stopped?  " — "  No." 

"  Yet  he  said  you  could  find  him  on  Randolph  street  ?" — 
"  Yes." 

"  So  he  gave  you  the  idea  that  he  could  be  found  out  of 
doors,  did  he?" — "Well,  he's  around  Randolph  street  a  good 
deal." 

"  Where  did  you  meet  Albright  ?  " — "  In  the  alley." 

"  Near  Crane  Brothers  ?  " — "  Yes." 

"  What  did  you  say  ?" — "  I  said  :  '  Hello,  Albright,'  and  he 
said  :  '  Hello,  Krumm.'" 

"  What  else  ?  Did  you  say  you  came  down  town  to  see  a 
friend?"— "Yes." 

"  Did  you  tell  him  the  name  of  your  friend  ?  " — "  No." 

"  Who  was  speaking  then  ?  " — "  Parsons,  I   think." 

"Tell  what  he  said." — "He  said  something  about  Jay 
Gould." 

"  What  did  Spies  say  ?  " — "  He  said  :  '  A  few  words  more, 
boys,  and  we'll  go  home.'" 

"  Spies  said  that,  did  he  ?  " — "Yes." 

"  Which  man  is  Spies  ? " — The  witness  confounds  the  men. 
Asked  to  indicate  Spies  he  points  to  Fielden. 

"  How  did  you  stand  in  the  alley  when  the  speaking  was 
going  on  ?  " — "  I  had  my  back  to  the  north  wall." 


424  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"Did  you  stand    that   way  all   the  time?" — "  Yes,  except 

when  we  lit  our  pipes." 

"  Then  did  you  stand  the  same  way  after  you  lighted  your 

pipes?"— "Yes." 

"  Then  how  could  you  see  these  men  if  you  had  your  backs 

to  the  wall?" — "  I  looked  over  my  head." 

"  You  looked  over  your  head  all  the  time  ?  " — "Yes,  when 

we  looked  at  the  speakers." 

"  And  you  never  saw  these  men  before  ? " — "  No." 

"Yet  from  that  point  in  the  alley,  the  speakers  eight  feet  or 

more  distant,  a  crowd  between  you,  you  looking  over  your  shoul- 
der in  the  dark,  you  recognize  these  men  the  first  time  you  saw 

them?"— "Yes." 

"  Where  were  the  police  when  Fielden  said  :  '  Now,  a  word 

more,  boys,  and  we  will  go  home  '  ?  " — "  They  were   coming  up 

Desplaines  street." 

"  Where  was  Spies   then  ?  " — "  I   don't  know.      I    don't  re- 
member." 

"  Well,  didn't  you  see  Spies  on  the  wagon  ?  '' — "  Yes." 

"  When  ?  " — "  I  don't  think  now.     Early  in  the   evening,  I 

think." 

"  Now,  when   you   were  talking  to   Albright    did  you   talk 

about  what  the  speakers  were  saying?" — "  No." 

"  Did  you  talk  about  the  eight-hour  question  ?  " — "  No." 

"  What  were  you  talking  about  ?  " — "  About  the  shop." 

"  Now,  where  did  you  see  the  bomb  ? " — "  It  was  about  ten 

feet  in  the  air,  about  twenty  feet  south  of  the  alley.      I  didn't  see 

it  explode." 

"No,  of  course  not.      It  was  too  far  south." 

"There    then  were  some  boxes  on   the   sidewalk,   and  you 

couldn't  see  ?" — "I    did  not  say    there  were  any    boxes    on    the 

sidewalk." 

"Yes,  but  if  there  were   any  boxes   there    you    would   have 

seen    them  ?    They   were    on    the  sidewalk  ?" — "Yes.      I   would 

have  seen  them  if  they  had  been  on  the  sidewalk." 
"And  you  did  not  see  them  there  ?" — "I  did  not." 
(All  the  other  witnesses  for  the  defense  testified  that  a  big 

pile  of  boxes  stood  on  the  sidewalk  between  the  alley  and  a  point 

where  the  bomb  exploded.) 

"And  you  say  you  did  not  see.  those  boxes  ?" — "I  did  not." 
"When  were  you  at  the  Haymarket  ?" — "May  4." 
"Were  you  ever  there  in  your  life  ?" — "Yes." 
"How  about  a  lamp  post.     Did  you    see    one?" — "I    don't 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  425 

remember  now,  but  I  know  there  is  one  at   the  southeast  corner 
of  the  alley." 

"How  do  you  know  this?" — "I  worked  at  the  corner  of  Ran- 
dolph and  Jefferson  streets  for  ten  years,  and  remember  it." 

"How  long  ago  was  that  ?" — "Seven  years  ago." 

"And  you  can  remember  that  a  lamp  post  stood  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  alley  after  the  lapse  of  seven  years?" — "I 
can.1' 

"Where  is  your  wife  now  P1' — "Living  on  Sedgwick  street." 

"Whereabouts?" — "I  don't  know.  I  have  not  seen  her  for  a 
year. " 

"How  did  you  come  to  go  to  Salomon  &  Zeisler's  office  ?" — 
"I  saw  a  notice  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  asking  for  all  that  knew 
anything-  about  the  bomb  throwing  to  call  on  them.  I  went  there 
on  Sunday." 

"When  did  you  see  this  notice?" — "Some  time  ago.  I  don't 
remember  when." 

"Did  you  talk  with  any  one  about  this  bomb  throwing?" — 
''Yes,  with  Albright." 

"Any  one  else  ?" — "No." 

"Yet  you  saw  the  bomb  in  the  air  and  heard  the  explosion, 
but  you  did  not  talk  to  any  one  about  what  you  saw?" — "That's 
it." 

M.  T.  Malkoff,  the  correspondent  of  a  paper  at  Moscow, 
Russia,  and  formerly  a  writer  on  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  testified 
that  Parsons  was  in  Zephf's  hall,  talking  to  his  wife,  Mrs.  Holmes 
and  the  witness,  when  the  bomb  exploded.  State's  Attorney 
Grinnell  elicits  from  the  witness  that  he  has  been  five  years  in 
this  country,  that  he  lived  in  New  York  and  maintained  himself 
by  teaching  the  Russian  language.  From  New  York  he  went  to 
Little  Rock,  then  to  St.  Louis,  and  finally  to  Chicago,  arriving 
here  in  1884.  "You  came  here  with  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
Spies?" — "No,  sir.  I  obtained  my  position  in  the  South  through 
a  letter  of  introduction  from  Spies." 

"How  did  you  come  to  get  that  letter?" — "I  and  a  man 
named  Clossie  translated  a  romance  from  the  Russian  and  sold  it 
to  Spies." 

"That  was  a  revolutionary  novel  ?" — "It  was  not.  It  was  a 
description " 

"Oh,  I  don't  want  to  go  into  that.  You  know  Herr  Most?" 
— "I  have  seen  him,  but  I  don't  know  him." 

"You  know  Justus  Schwab?  You  had  letters  sent  to  his 
address?" — "That  may  be." 


426  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"You  lived  with  Schwab  in  New  York  ?" — "I  did  not." 

"You  lived  with  Balthazar  Rau  here,  though,  on  May  4?" — 
"I  did." 

"Where?" — "At  418  Larrabee  street." 

"When  did  you  leave  Russia?" — "In    1882." 

"Your  bedroom  was  searched,  wasn't  it  ?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"Were  the  arms  found  there  guns  and  bayonets,  or  any  of 
them,  belonging  to  you?" — "No  sir." 

"Where  did  you  live  before  you  went  to  Rau's  house?" — 
"With  Mr.  Schwab." 

"One  of  the  defendants  ?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"You  are  a  stockholder  in  the  Alarm  company  ?" — "No, 
sir." 

"You  contributed  money  to  that  organization  ?" — "That  may 
be." 

"But  did  you  not  contribute  money?" — "I  did." 

"How  much?" — "Two  dollars." 

"You  were  a  Nihilist  in  Russia?" — "No,  sir." 

'Are  you  not  the  agent  here  for  the  Nihilists  in  Russia?" — 
"No,  sir.      I  am  not  an  agent  for  any  society  in  Russia." 

"Did  you  not  tell  Mr.  Hardy  you  were  the  agent  for  a  Ni- 
hilistic society?" — "No,  sir.  The  reporters  used  to  call  me  a 
Nihilist  because  I  was  a  Russian." 

"What  paper  are  you  now  working  for?" — "The  Moscow 
Gazette :" 

"Look  at  that  letter ;  is  that  your  signature  at  the  bottom  ?" 
—"It  is." 

The  letter  is  written  in  German  and  it  is  given  to  the  trans- 
lator, who  is  instructed  to  render  it  into  English.  "This  letter  is 
directed  to  a  'Mr.  Editor.'  What  editor?" — "I  think  it  was 
directed  to  Mr.  Spies.'' 

"That  was  before  you  came  to  Chicago  ?" — "  It  was." 

"  Then  we  offer  it  in  evidence."  The  letter  is,  in  substance, 
an  inquiry  as  to  whether  or  not  Spies  could  use  certain  articles 
written  by  Malkoff.  It  goes  on  to  say  :  "  I  have  just  completed 
another  article  treating  of  the  secret  revolutionary  societies  of 
Russia.  I  am  a  proletariat  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word. 
Address  your  letter  to  J.  H.  Schwab,  50  First  street,  New  York." 

"  Is  that  J.  H.  Schwab  Justus  Schwab  ?"— "  It  is." 

"  Did  you  live  with  him  in  New  York?" — "  No,  sir.  I  just 
got  my  mail  there." 

"Now,"  says  Foster,  "you  say  you  were  a  proletariat. 
What  do  you  mean  by  that  term  ?" — "  I  understand  it  to  be  a 
man  without  any  means  of  support." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  427 

"And  you,  having  no  money,  had  your  mail  sent  to  Justus 
Schwab  because  you  had  no  home,  eh  ?" — "  Yes,  sir." 

"  Now,"  asks  Mr.  Ingham,  "  I'll  ask  you  if  you  did  not  use 
the  term  proletariat  in  the  sense  in  which  Socialists  always  employ 
that  term  ?"—  '•  No,  sir,  I  did  not." 

SAMUEL    FIELDEN. 

Samuel  Fielden,  one  of  the  defendants  who  was  speaking  at 
the  time  of  the  bomb  explosion,  testified  that  he  did  not  know 
who  threw  the  bomb,  and  denied  that  he  fired  at  the  police  with 
a  revolver.  He  was  cross-examined  by  Mr.  Ingham  for  the 
State,  who  asked:  "At  what  age  did  you  come  to  the  United 
States  ?  " — "  Twenty-one." 

"  Did  you  have  any  business  before  you  came  to  the  United 
States  ?  " — "I  went  to  work  in  a  cotton  mill  at  eight  years  of  age, 
and  worked  in  that  mill  until  I  left  the  country  to  come  to  the 
United  States." 

"How  long  have  you  been  a  Socialist?" — "I  joined  the 
Socialistic  organization  in  July,  1884." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  a  revolutionist  ?  " — "  In  the  sense 
of  an  evolutionary  revolutionist,  I  have  been  so  for  a  number  of 
years." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  of  the  belief  that  the  existing 
order  of  things  should  be  overthrown  by  force?" — "I  don't 
know  that  I  have  ever  been  convinced.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
the  existing  order  of  things  must  be  overturned,  but  whether  by 
force  I  don't  know." 

"How  long  have  you  believed  in  Anarchy?" — "Well,  I 
believed  in  it  shortly  after  I  joined  the  organization — as  soon  as 
I  came  to  think  on  the  subject." 

"  You  have  been  progressing  from  Socialism  to  Anarchism  ; 
and  if  you  cannot  convince  the  majority  of  the  United  States  to 
your  opinions,  you  propose  to  compel  them  by  force?" — Ob- 
jected to. 

"  How  long  have  you  preached  Anarchy  ? " — Objected  to. 

"  Was  there  any  English-speaking  group  in  the  city  that 
you  know  of  ?  " — Objected  to. 

"  Did  you  ever  attend  any  meeting  of  any  English-speaking 
group  other  than  the  American  group  in  this  city  of  that  kind  ? " 
— "  We  tried  to  found  one  a  year  ago  last  winter  on  West  Indi- 
ana street.  I  think  we  only  held  two  meetings,  and  then  we 
abandoned  it." 

"Any  other  group  of  them  that  you  attended?" — "  I  don't 
remember  any  now." 


428  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"  You  have  for  the  last  two  or  three  years  been  making 
speeches  of  Socialistic  and  Anarchistic  character?" — "I  have 
been  making  labor  speeches ;  they  were  not  always  Socialistic  or 
Anarchistic  speeches.1' 

"  But  you  have  made  Socialistic  and  Anarchistic  speeches  ?" 
— "Well,  I  have  touched  on  Anarchy  and  Socialism,  and  some- 
times my  speeches  might  have  been  considered  from  the  ordinary 
trades  union  standpoint,  for  all  the  anarchy  there  was  in  them." 

"  Have  you  ever  made  speeches  on  the  lake  front  and  other 
Socialistic  meetings  ?  " — "  Yes,  on  the  lake  front,  some  on  Mar- 
ket square,  at  No.  54  West  Lake  street,  Twelfth  street  Turner 
hall,  and  No.  106  Randolph  street." 

"  Look  at  the  copy  of  the  Alarm  of  June  27,  1885,  '  Dyn- 
amite ;  Instructions  Regarding  Its  Use  and  Operation,'  and 
signed  'A.  S.'  Say  whether  you  ever  saw  it." — "I  don't  know 
that  I  have." 

"  Was  there  any  reason  why  you  did  not  walk  when  you 
started  home  that  night  ?" — "  Yes.  I  did  not  wish  to  be  arrested 
that  night." 

"You  expected  that  you  would  be  arrested?" — "Well,  after 
that  trouble  I  expected  to  be  arrested." 

"  You  were  speaking  when  the  police  came  up,  and  were 
making  no  inflammatory  speech  ?" — "  I  did  not  incite  anybody  to 
do  anything,  to  do  any  overt  act.  I  told  the  people  in  general 
to  resist  the  present  socialistic  system  that  oppressed  them,  and 
gave  them  no  chance  to  earn  a  living." 

"And  yet  you  expected  to  be  arrested?" — "I  had  read 
something  of  criminal  proceedings  and  I  knew  that  the  police 
would  arrest  everybody  connected  with  that  meeting  in  order  to 
find  the  one  who  was  responsible.  I  made  an  explanation  before 
the  Coroner's  jury  because  I  had  a  different  idea  of  the  police 
at  that  time.  I  thought  if  I  made  that  statement  and  they  in- 
quired into  the  truth  and  were  convinced  of  my  innocence  they 
would  let  me  go.      But  I  now  see  that  I  was  mistaken." 

"  Did  the  police  indict  you  ?" — "  I  don't  know  who  indicted 
me." 

Redirect — "  You  have  heard  what  has  been  said  about  your 
expression  of  throttling  the  law,  of  killing  it,  of  stabbing  it. 
Just  state  the  explanation  which  you  said  you  desired  to  make 
in  regard  to  that." — "Well,  it  was  just  the  explanation  that  a 
public  orator  would  make  when  he  was  denouncing  a  political 
party.  When  he  said  he  wanted  to  get  rid  of  the  Democratic 
party,  for  instance,  he  would  kill  it,  stab  it,  or  make  way  with  it. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  429 

The  words  would  rush  away  with  a  public  speaker,  and  in  the 
hurry  he  could  not  add  a  lengthy  explanation." 

"  You  also  read  the  reporter's  notes  in  regard  to  snails  and 
worms,  and  said  there  was  no  connection  there.  What  were 
your  words  in  reference  to  snails  and  worms,  and  the  idea  that 
you  now  remember  ?" — "  Well,  the  idea  that  1  intended  to  con- 
vey at  that  time  was  that  when  men  were  thrown  out  of  work 
through  no  fault  of  their  own,  and  it  being  a  fact  that  has  been 
proven  and  asserted  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
that  over  a  million  of  men  are  out  of  employment  through  no 
fault  of  their  own — these  men  being  driven  about,  become  degraded 
and  loathsome,  and  people  look  upon  them  with  contempt,  and  yet 
it  is  no  fault  of  their  own  ;  they  have  no  part  in  producing  the 
condition  of  things  that  throws  them  out  of  employment,  and 
leads  them  to  their  abject  condition. " 

"You  did  not  know  of  the  presence  of  a  dynamite  bomb  or 
anything  of  that  kind  in  the  crowd  ?" — "  No,  sir  ;  I  did  not  even 
know  of  the  presence  of  an  unusual  number  of  police  at  the 
station.      I  did  not  know  that  till  after  the  meeting." 

A  FUNNY  WITNESS. 

(From  The  Tribune?) — Henry  Schultz,  an  elderly  German 
with  a  face  like  a  retired  cowboy,  and  a  funny  habit  of  making 
"snoots,"  as  the  boys  say,  testified  that  he  had  made  lots  of 
money  in  Montana  and  now  resides  in  Portage  City,  Wis.  Capt. 
Black. — '"  Where  were  you  on  the  night  of  May  4,  1886?" — Wit- 
ness.— "  From  9  o'clock  until  the  fight  was  over  I  was  on  the 
Haymarket;  I  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  a  little  north  of 
the  wagon." 

"  How  long  had  you  been  in  Chicago  at  that  time  ?" — "  Two 
weeks.      I  am  a  tourist."     [Laughter.] 

"  Have  you  been  in  the  habit  of  attending  meetings  in  the 
street?" — "No;  but  since  I  have  been  here  seeing  the  sights  I 
would  stop  at  anything." 

Here  the  witness  got  up  a  horrible  grimace  which  would 
have  scared  a  nervous  child  into  fits,  and  the  audience  leaned 
back  and  giggled.  The  Court  read  the  spectators  a  lecture  on 
the  impropriety  of  their  merriment,  and  threatened  to  clear 
everybody  who  cackled  in  the  future. 

"  Before  the  police  came,  did  you  see  anything  disorderly?" 
— "  It  was,  as  I  know,  peaceable,  like  a  Fourth  of  July."  There 
was  another  contortion  of  the  face  of  Mr.  Schultz,  and  the  audi- 
ence indulged  in  a  little  snicker,  with  an  eye  on  the  Judge. 

"  Do  you  remember  the  speech  of  the  first  speaker  ?" — "  I 


430  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

know  the  run  of  his  talk ;  I  kept  it  in  my  mind.  He  says,  '  I 
didn't  want  to  come  here.  Then  they  called  me  a  coward,  and  I 
didn't  like  to  be  called  a  coward,  and  that  is  the  reason  I  came.' 
A  few  words  after  that  he  says:  '  They  are  only  500  yards  from 
here.  Maybe  by  to-morrow  morning  I  will  have  to  die.'  I  kept 
that  on  my  mind.  I  left  the  meeting  when  the  black  cloud  came 
up,  and  when  the  bomb  exploded  I  was  on  Lake  street.  After 
the  bomb  exploded  I  looked  around  the  corner,  and  I  saw  every- 
thing dark,  and  I  thought  the  bomb  must  have  blowed  out  the 
lights."    [Laughter.] 

"  What  else  did  you  see  ?" — "  I  see  the  policemen  and  they 
were  all  around.  They  had  the  ground.  I  saw  some  of  the 
workmen  run — they  were  about  two  blocks  ahead  of  the  police." 

"  Did  you  see  the  police  come  upon  the  working  men  ?" — 
"  They  came  pretty  strong  in  Lake  street,  and  they  had  the  men 
in  the  gutter,  and  when  they  raise  up  they  get  another  club." 

Mr.  Grinnell — "What  is  your  business?" — "Doing  noth- 
ing," replied  Mr.  Schultz,  with  a  grin  at  the  crowd,  and  the  crowd 
laughed  in  a  guarded  way,  because  they  did  not  wish  to  be  fired 
out  of  the  entertainment. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  conducting  that  business  ?" — 
"About  ten  years.      Before  that  I  was  mining  in  Montana." 

"  Where  is  your  house  in  Portage  City  ?v — "  The  next  house 
to  the  courthouse,"  responded  the  witness,  with  a  cunning  look 
at  the  Court,  and  there  was  another  wild  outburst  of  mirth  from 
the  audience.  Mr.  Schultz  narrated  a  part  of  his  early  history, 
from  which  it  appeared  that  before  he  became  a  millionaire  he 
played  the  fiddle  at  dances  ;  and  in  answer  to  a  question  as  to 
when  he  began  to  be  a  musician,  he  said  :  "  From  nine  years 
old.      My  father  was  a  musician — it  runs  in  the  family." 

"  Do  you  play  the  violin  since  you  have  been  in  Chicago  ?" 
— "  No;  my  money  reaches  so  that  I  don't  have  to  do  anything." 
[Laughter.] 

"  The  first  speaker  was  Spies,  wasn't  it?" — "  Oh,  I  can't 
promise  anything,"  said  Mr.  Schultz,  with  a  contortion  of  coun- 
tenance which  brought  down  the  house.  Judge  Gary  looked 
indignantly  around  and  said  :  "  O !  be  quiet !"  and  the  crowd 
immediately  became  as  demure  as  a  Quaker  meeting. 

"  What  did  Spies  say  about  the  police  being  so  many  feet 
away  ?" — "  He  says  they  was  only  five  hundred  yards  from  here 
and  he  was  likely  to  die  before  morning.  That  was  about  all  he 
said  in  that  run  of  speech." 

"  Did  you  hear  the  first  speaker  say  anything  about  '  To 
arms  !  to  arms  !'  ?" — "  That  was  the  man — I  heard  him." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  43  I 

"  Where  did  you  go  when  you  left  the  meeting?'' — "  I  went 
to  wash  my  feet !" 

The  expression  on  Mr.  Schultz  s  face,  and  the  simplicity  of 
the  answer,  upset  the  decorum  of  the  spectators  and  they  laughed 
right  out  in  meetin',  regardless  of  the  threatened  penalty  for 
such  a  glaring  contempt  of  court.  Judge  Gary  himself,  how- 
ever, assisted  in  the  hilarity,  and  was  very  lenient  with  the  offend- 
ers,  a  fellow-feeling  evidently  making  him  wondrous  kind.  Mr. 
Schultz  a  moment  afterward  had  an  opportunity  to  correct  the 
impression  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  touring  around  the  streets 
of  Chicago  in  his  bare  feet. 

"  Did  you  have  your  boots  off  when  you  were  washing  your 
feet  ?" — "  O,  no  ;  I  didn't  wash  my  feet ;  I  only  washed  the  mud 
off  my  boots  in  one  of  them  horse-troughs. v  Then  Mr.  Schultz 
treated  the  company  to  a  choice  selection  of  facial  contortions, 
and  got  down  out  of  the  chair  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  has 
done  his  duty,  his  whole  duty,  and  nothing  but  his  duty. 

MICHAEL    SCHWAB. 

The  defendant,  Michael  Schwab,  was  put  on  the  stand 
Monday,  August  9.  He  testified  that  he  went  to  the  'Arbeiter 
Zeitung  office  on  the  evening  of  May  4.  A  telephone  message 
was  received  requesting  Spies  to  speak  at  a  meeting  near  Deer- 
ing's  Harvester  works,  on  Clybourn  avenue.  The  witness 
said  he  went  to  the  Haymarket  to  find  Spies,  but  failed.  He 
did  see  Rudolph  Schnaubelt,  his  brother-in-law,  there.  Witness 
then  took  a  street  car  and  went  up  Clybourn  avenue  ;  spoke 
twenty  minutes  at  the  meeting  ;  stepped  into  a  saloon  and  got  a 
few  glasses  of  beer,  and  then  went  to  his  home,  on  Florimond 
street,  arriving  about  1 1  o'clock  P.  M. 

Mr.  Foster  asked:  "  Were  you  ever  in  the  alley  at  Crane 
Bros.'  that  night  with  Mr.  Spies  ?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  walk  west  on  Randolph  street  with  Mr.  Spies  two 
blocks,  then  return  with  him  ?" — "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  see  Mr.  Spies  that  night  ?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  see  Mr.  Spies  hand  your  brother-in-law  a  package 
that  night  in  the  alley  at  Crane  Bros.',  and  did  you  say  anything 
like  this  :  '  If  that  won't  be  enough,  shall  we  get  another  one?'  " 
— "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  see  Mr.  Spies  at  all  that  night?" — "  No,  sir." 

"  When  did  you  see  him  at  all  for  the  last  time  that  day  ?" 
— "  In  the  afternoon.  I  did  not  see  him  again  until  the  next 
morning." 

Schwab  says  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Internationalist 


432  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

society  since  its  organization.  On  the  night  of  May  4  he  went 
to  the  Haymarket  on  foot  and  walked  through  the  Washington 
street  tunnel.  Balthazar  Rau  accompanied  him  as  far  west  as 
Desplaines  street. 

"Are  you  an  Anarchist?  "  asked  Mr.  Grinnell. — ''  It  depends 
on  what  you  mean.     There  are  several  definitions  of  that." 

"Answer  my  question.  Are  you  an  Anarchist?'' — "  I  can't 
answer  that." 

AUGUST    SPIES. 

Schwab  steps  down  and  Spies  takes  the  stand.  'Give  your 
full  name  to  the  jury,"  says  Captain  Black. 

"August  Vincent  Theodore  Spies,"  replies  the  prisoner. 

He  is  thirty-one  years  old,  and  came  to  this  country  from 
Germany  in  1872.  Spies  speaks  with  a  marked  accent,  but  very 
distinctly.  He  is  cool  and  collected  apparently,  and  sits  back  in 
the  witness  chair  very  much  at  ease. 

He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Socialistic  Publishing  Society, 
and  that  concern  exercised  control  over  the  policy  of  the 
Ar better  Zeitung,  of  which  paper  the  witness  was  editor  for  six 
years.  Spies  says  he  was  at  a  meeting  on  the  "Black  road  "  on 
May  3.  Spies  reached  the  meeting  on  the  "Black  road"  about  3 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  There  was  a  crowd  of  perhaps  three 
thousand  present.  Some  men  were  speaking,  but  they  were  very 
poor  speakers,  and  the  crowd  was  not  interested.  Balthazar 
Rau  was  with  him,  and  introduced  him  to  the  chairman  of  the 
meeting.  It  was  called  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  eight- 
hour  question.  While  Spies  was  there  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  wait  on  the  bosses  ;  then  he  was  introduced,  and 
spoke  for  possibly  twenty  minutes.     Spies  goes  on  : 

"  I  was  almost  prostrated.  I  had  been  speaking  two  or 
three  times  daily  for  the  past  two  or  three  weeks,  and  was  very 
much  worn.  I  did  not  jump  around  and  wave  my  hands  as  one 
witness  testified  here  on  the  stand,  and  I  made  a  very  common- 
place, ordinary  speech.  I  told  the  men  to  hold  together,  to 
stand  by  their  union,  or  they  would  not  succeed.  That  was  the 
substance  of  what  I  said.  While  I  was  speaking  some  one  cried 
out  in  an  unknown  tongue  and  about  two  hundred  men  detached 
themselves  from  the  crowd  and  went  on  to  McCormick's. 
Pretty  soon  I  heard  firing,  and  on  inquiring  what  was  the  matter 
was  told  the  men  had  attacked  McCormick's  men  and  that  the 
police  were  firing  on  them.  I  stopped  for  about  five  minutes, 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  committee  ;  then  I  went  to  McCor- 
mick's.    A  lot  of  cars  were  standing  on  the  tracks.     The  men 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  433 

were  hiding  behind  these  cars,  others  were  running,  while  the 
police  were  firing  on  the  flying  people.  The  sight  of  this  made 
my  blood  boil.  At  that  time  I  could  have  done  almost  anything, 
I  was  so  excited.     A  young  Irishman  came  out  from  behind  one 

of  the  cars.      I  think  he  knew  me  and  said  :  '  What  kind  of  

business  is  this  ?  There  are  two  men  over  there  dead  ;  the  police 
have  killed  them.'  I  asked  him  how  many  were  killed.  He  said 
five  or  six,  and  that  twenty-five  or  thirty  were  injured.  I  came 
down  town  then  and  wrote  the  report  which  appeared  in  the 
Arbeiter  Zeitung  the  next  day." 

"  Did  you  write  the  '  Revenge  Circular  '  ?" — "  Yes  ;  only  I 
did  not  write  the  word  '  Revenge.'  " 

"  Can  you  tell  how  that  word  happened  to  be  put  in  the  cir- 
cular ?" — "  I  cannot." 

"  How  many  of  those  circulars  were  distributed  ?" — "About 
twenty-five  hundred." 

"  How  soon  was  it  written  after  your  return  to  the  office  ?" 
— "  Immediately." 

"At  that  time  were  you  still  laboring  under  the  excitement 
incident  to  the  riot  ?" — "  I  was." 

"What  was  your  state  of  mind?" — "  I  was  very  indignant. 
I  knew  from  experience  of  the  past  that  this  butchering  of  peo- 
ple was  done  for  the  express  purpose  of  defeating  the  eight-hour 
movement."  Spies  is  growing  excited.  Mr.  Grinnell  objects. 
The  Court  says  his  last  answer  is  not  proper  and  orders  it  stricken 
from  the  record. 

"  On  the  evening  of  May  4  you  attended  the  Haymarket 
meeting?" — "I  did." 

"  You  were  asked  to  speak  there  ?" — "  I  was." 

"  When  did  you  learn  there  was  to  be  a  meeting  ?" — "  About 
8  o'clock  that  morning.  I  was  advised  there  was  to  be  a  meeting 
and  was  asked  to  address  it." 

"  What  time  did  you  reach  there?" — "About  8:20  o'clock." 

"  Did  you  see  the  notice  of  that  meeting  in  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung?'1 — "  Yes  ;   I  put  it  in  myself." 

"  Did  you  see  a  circular  that  day,  calling  for  a  meeting  at 
the  Haymarket  ?" — "  Yes.  It  was  the  circular  containing  the  line  : 
1  Working  men,  arm  yourselves  and  appear  in  full  force.'  When 
I  read  that  line  I  said  :  'If  this  is  the  meeting  I  am  to  address 
I  will  not  speak.'  He  asked  why.  I  said  on  account  of  that 
line.  He  said  the  circulars  had  not  been  distributed,  and  I  said  : 
'  If  the  line  is  taken  out  I  will  go.'  Fischer  was  sent  for  and  he 
told  the  men  to  have  that  line  taken  out." 

2S 


434  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"  Who  was  this  man  that  brought  the  circulars  ?" — "  He  was 
on  the  stand  ;  Grueneberg  is  his  name,  I  think." 

"Was  there  any  torch  on  the  wagon  ?" — "  No  ;  I  think  the 
sky  was  clear  and  that  the  lamp  was  burning  near  the  corner  of 
the  alley." 

"Was  that  selection  made  by  yourself,  or  upon  consulta- 
tion ?" — "  Well,  I  consulted  with  my  brother  Henry.  He  was 
with  me  all  evening.1' 

"After  you  got  them  together,  what  did  you  do  ?" — "  Some 
one  suggested  we  had  better  move  the  wagon  around  on  Ran- 
dolph street,  but  I  said  that  might  impede  the  street  cars.  Then 
I  asked  where  was  Parsons.  I  was  not  on  the  committee  of  ar- 
rangements and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  meeting  except  to 
speak.  One  Schroder  said  Parsons  was  speaking  then  at  the 
corner  of  Halsted  and  Randolph  streets,  and  I  went  up  to  find 
him  with  my  brother  Henry  and  Schnaubelt." 

"  Did  you  see  Schwab  ?" — "  No,  I  did  not.  Schnaubelt  told 
me  Schwab  had  gone  to  Deering's." 

"  Did  you  go  to  Crane's  alley  with  Schwab  ?" — "  I  could  not 
very  well  do  that,  as  I  had  not  seen  him  that  night." 

"Just  answer  the  question,"  cries  Mr.  Ingham. — "Well,  I 
did  not  go  to  the  alley.  I  did  not  even  know  there  was  an  alley 
there."  The  witness  denies  the  conversation  Mr.  Thompson 
alleges  he  overheard  Spies  engage  in  with  Schwab.  He  says 
Schnaubelt  cannot  speak  any  English — that  he  has  only  been 
about  two  years  in  the  country. 

"  Did  Schwab  say  to  you  that  evening  :  '  Now,  if  they  come, 
we  are  prepared  for  them  '  ?" — "  No,  sir  ;  I  did  not  see  him  that 
evening." 

"  Did  you  walk  with  Schwab  on  the  east  side  of  Desplaines 
street,  about  twelve  feet  south  of  the  alley  that  evening?" — "  I 
did  not.      I  was  not  anywhere  near  that  alley  with  any  man." 

"  You  remember  what  the  witness  Thompson  said,  that  he 
saw  you  walk  with  Schnaubelt  east  on  Randolph  street ;  that  he 
saw  you  hand  him  something ;  that  you  then  returned  to  the 
meeting  together.  Is  that  true?" — "  It  is  not.  That  man  told 
a  different  story  before  the  coroner's  jury." 

This  last  answer  is  ordered  stricken  out,  and  Spies  is  told  to 
say  nothing  but  in  answer  to  questions.  Spies  is  asked  to  tell 
what  he  said  at  the  meeting.  It  was  a  short  synopsis  of  the  ex- 
isting state  of  the  labor  world.  First,  he  said  that  the  meeting 
was  to  be  a  peaceable  one  ;  that  it  was  not  called  for  the  purpose 
of  creatine^  trouble.     Attention  was  directed  to  the  strike  at  East 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  435 

St.  Louis,  where  those  who  were  active  in  the  riots  there  were 
not  Socialists  nor  Anarchists,  but  church-going-  people,  and  hon- 
est, sincere  Christians.  It  was  admitted  by  students  that  society 
was  retrograding  ;  the  masses  were  being  degraded  under  the 
excessive  work  they  had  to  carry  on.  For  twenty  years  the 
working  men  asked  in  vain  for  two  hours  less  work  a  day,  and 
that  finally  they  resolved  to  take  the  matter  in  their  own  hands 
and  help  themselves.  "About  this  time  I  saw  Parsons,  then  I 
broke  off.  I  was  not  in  a  state  to  make  a  speech.  I  was  tired. 
I  introduced  Parsons,  and  he  proceeded  to  address  the  meeting." 

"What  was  the  size  of  the  crowd  then?" — "About  two 
thousand  persons." 

"  Where  did  you  go  after  finishing  your  speech  ? " — "  I  re- 
mained on  the  wagon." 

"  You  spoke  in  English  ?  " — "  Yes.  I  made  no  speech  in 
German  that  night.  I  was  asked  to  do  so,  but  was  too  tired.  I 
introduced  Fielden  and  he  made  a  brief  speech,  then  we  intended 
to  go  home." 

"  What  did  Parsons  say  in  his  speech  ?" — "  Parsons  made  a 
pretty  good  speech.  He  said  of  the  dollar  earned  by  the  work- 
ing men  they  got  only  fifteen  cents,  while  the  pharisaical  class 
got  eighty-five  cents,  and  that  the  eight-hour  movement  was  a 
still-hunt  for  that  eighty-five  cents." 

"  What  do  you  remember  of  Fielden's  speech?'' — "Well, 
Fielden  did  not  say  much.  I  don't  remember  now  what  he  did 
say." 

"  Were  you  on  the  wagon  when  the  police  came  ?  " — "  Yes. 
I  saw  the  police  on  Randolph  street." 

''  At  that  time  what  was  the  size  of  the  meeting  ?  " — "  It  was 
as  good  as  adjourned.  About  two-thirds  of  those  present  went, 
some  going  to  Zephf's  hall  when  the  black  cloud  came  up.'' 

"  What  did  you  hear  when  the  command  to  disperse  was 
odven  ?  " — "  I  was  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  wa^on,  back  of 
Fielden.  I  heard  Captain  Ward  say  :  '  I  command  you,  in  the 
name  of  the  people  of  Illinois,  to  disperse.'  Captain  Ward  had 
a  cane  or  club  in  his  hand.  Fielden  said  to  him  :  '  Captain, 
this  is  a  peaceable  meeting.'  I  started  to  get  down  out  of  the 
wagon.  My  brother  Henry  and  one  Legner  helped  me  down. 
I  was  indignant  at  the  thought  that  the  police  had  come  to  dis- 
perse the  meeting,  as  it  was  a  quiet  one.  Just  as  soon  as  I 
reached  the  ground  I  heard  a  loud  detonation.  I  thought  the 
police  had  a  cannon  to  frighten  the  people.  I  did  not  dream  for 
a  moment  of  a  bomb,  and  I  did  not  even  then  think  the  police 


436  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

were  firing  at  the  crowd.      I  thought  the  police  were  firing  over 
their  heads." 

"  Where  did  you  go  to  ?  " — "  I  was  pushed  along  by  the 
crowd.      I  went  to  Zephf's  hall." 

"  Did  you  at  any  time  that  night  get  down  from  the  wagon 
and  go  into  an  alley  and  light  a  bomb  in  the  hands  of  Rudolph 
Schnaubelt?" — "  I  never  did." 

"  Did  you  see  Schnaubelt  in  the  alley  that  night  while 
Fischer  was  there  ?  " — "  I  did  not." 

"  You  remember  the  witness  Gilmer  ?" — "  Yes." 

"  Is  his  story  true  ?  " — "  Not  a  word  of  it." 

"You  remember  Wilkinson,  the  reporter  for  the  Daily 
News?" — "  Yes.      I  had  a  conversation  with  him  in  January." 

"  Well,  go  on  and  tell  us  about  it." — "  He  was  introduced 
to  me  by  Joe  Gruenhut.  He  said  he  wanted  to  get  some  data 
wherewith  to  prepare  an  article  on  Anarchism,  Socialism  and 
dynamite,  and  all  that.  I  happened  to  have  four  shells  in  my 
office.  I  had  them  for  about  three  years.  A  man  on  his  way  to 
New  Zealand  gave  me  two  bombs  ;  another  man  some  time  after 
called  at  my  office  with  two  bombs,  and  wanted  to  know  if  their 
construction  was  proper.  That's  how  I  came  to  possess  them. 
He  wanted  one  to  show  to  Mr.  Stone.  I  let  him  take  it.  We 
went  to  dinner  at  a  restaurant,  and  we  conversed  about  society, 
its  present  state,  and  the  trouble  that  was  likely  to  ensue.  We 
spoke  about  street  warfare,  as  all  this  was  contained  in  the  papers 
every  day.  There  was  constant  talk  that  so  many  wild-eyed  So- 
cialists were  arriving  every  day,  and  I  told  him  it  was  an  open 
secret  that  there  were  3,000  armed  Socialists  in  Chicago,  and 
we  spoke  about  revolutions,  and  I  said  that  in  past  ages  gun- 
powder had  come  to  the  assistance  of  the  downtrodden  masses, 
and  that  dynamite  was  a  child  of  the  same  parent,  and  was  a 
great  leveler." 

"Do  you  remember  the  toothpick  illustration  ?" — "Yes.  I 
remember  that,  and  also  recall  speaking  of  the  Washington  street 
tunnel,  saying  how  easy  comparatively  few  men  could  hold  that 
tunnel  against  a  body  of  soldiers,  but  nothing  was  said  about 
Chicago,  nor  was  anytime  fixed  for  the  revolution." 

"You  wrote  the  word  'Ruhe'  for  insertion  in  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung  May  4?" — "I  did." 

"How  did  you  come  to  do  that  ?" — "The  night  before  at  1 1 
o'clock  I  received  a  letter  as  follows  :  Mr.  Editor  :  Please  insert 
in  to-day's  letter-box  the  word  'Ruhe' in  prominent  letters." 

"At  that  time  did  you  know  there  was  any  import  attached  to 
the  word  ?" — "I  did  not." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  437 

"When  did  you  next  hear  of  it?" — "The  next  afternoon 
Balthazar  Rau  asked  me  if  the  word  was  in  the  paper.  I  said  : 
'Yes.'  He  asked  me  if  I  knew  the  meaning.  I  said:  'No.' 
Then  he  said  :  'The  armed  section  had  a  meeting  last  night  and 
adopted  the  word  "Ruhe"  as  a  signal  to  keep  their  powder  dry 
and  be  in  readiness  in  case  the  police  precipitated  a  riot'  I 
asked  if  that  had  anything  to  do  with  the  meeting  I  was  to  ad- 
dress at  the  Haymarket,  and  he  said  :  'Oh,  no  ;  that's  something 
the  boys  got  up  themselves.'  I  said  it  was  very  foolish,  that  it 
was  not  rational,  and  asked  if  there  was  no  way  in  which  it  could 
be  undone.  I  sent  for  Fischer  and  asked  if  there  was  any  way 
it  could  be  undone.  Rau  then  went  to  see  the  people 
of  the  armed  section  and  told  them  the  word  was  put  in  by 
mistake." 

"Were  you  a  member  of  the  armed  section  ?" — "No,  not  for 
six  year. 

"Did  you  ever  have  dynamite  and  a  fuse  in  your  desk?" — 
"Yes,  I  had  two  packages  of  giant  powder  and  some  fuse  in  my 
desk  for  two  years.  I  had  them  chiefly  to  show  to  reporters, 
they  bothered  me  a  good  deal.  They  always  wanted  some  sensa- 
tion. Then,  too,  I  wanted  the  dynamite  to  study  it ;  I  had  read  a 
good  deal  about  explosives." 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  a  package  of  dynamite  found 
on  the  shelf  in  the  closet  of  the  Arbciter  Zeitung?" — "Ab-so- 
lute-ly  nothing." 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  a  revolver  that  was  found  in 
the  Arbetter  Zeitung  office  ?" — "No.  I  do  not.  I  carried  a  re- 
volver myself,  but  it  was  a  good  one." 

"Did  you  carry  a  revolver?" — "Yes.  I  always  thought  it 
would  be  a  good  thing  to  be  prepared.  I  was  out  late  at  night  a 
good  deal." 

"Did  you  have  a  revolver  that  night?" — "No,  it  was  too 
heavy.      I   left  it  with  ex- Aid.  Frank  Stauber." 

"You  were  arrested  May  5?" — "Yes." 

"Tell  us  how." — "Well,  an  officer — James  Bonfield,  I  think 
— came  to  my  office  and  asked  for  Schwab.  He  said  Chief  Eb- 
ersold  would  like  to  see  him.  Schwab  asked  me  if  he  should 
go.  I  said  yes,  he  might.  Then  the  officer  turned  to  me  and 
asked  me  if  my  name  was  Spies.  I  said  yes.  Then  he  said 
Superintendent  Ebersold  would  like  to  see  me  about  that  affair 
of  last  night.  I  went  over  there,  unsuspectingly.  I  was  never  so 
treated  before  in  all  my  life." 

"Tell  what  happened  ?" — "Well,  as  soon  as  I  got  into  the  sta- 


438  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

tion  Superintendent  Ebersold  started  at  me.  He  said:  'You  dirty- 
Dutch  dog  ;  you  hound  ;  you  whelp  — you,  we  will  strangle  you! 
We  will  kill  you  ! ' "  Then  they  jumped  on  us,  tore  us  apart  from 
each  other.  I  never  said  anything.  Then  they  searched  us, 
took  our  money,  even  our  handkerchiefs,  and  would  not  return 
them  to  us.  I  was  put  in  a  cell,  and  have  not  had  my  liberty 
since." 

Mr.  Ingham  cross-examined  the  witness.  Spies  says  he 
came  to  this  country  when  seventeen  years  old,  and  that  he  has 
lived  in  Chicago  some  thirteen  years.  The  Arbeiter  Zeitung 
was  controlled  by  what  Spies  termed  an  "autonomous  editorial 
arrangement;''  that  is,  the  powers  of  the  several  editors  were  co- 
ordinate, but  the  general  policy  of  the  paper  was  under  the 
supervision  of  the  board  of  trustees. 

"Did  you  ever  receive  any  money  for  the  Alarm?" — 
"Yes." 

"Did  you  ever  pay  out  any  money  for  the  Alarm?* — 
"Yes." 

"  Did  you  ever  write  any  articles  for  the  Alarm  ?v — "  I 
may  have." 

"  How  many  bombs  did  you  have  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung 
office?" — "Four,  I  think.  Two  I  got  from  a  man  named 
Schwab.  I  forget  now.  He  was  a  shoemaker.  He  went  to 
New  Zealand." 

"How  did  this  man  come  to  give  you  those  bombs  ?  " — 
"  He  came  to  me  and  asked  me  if  my  name  was  Spies.  I  said 
yes.  Then  he  asked  me  if  I  had  seen  any  of  the  bombs  they 
were  making.      I  said  no.     Then  he  left  them  with  me." 

"  Who  did  he  mean  by  'they?  " — "  I  don't  know." 

"  Didn't  he  say  who  they  were  ?  " — "  No." 

"And  you  never  saw  him  before  or  since  ?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"And  when  did  you  get  these  czar  bombs  ?  " — "  I  never  got 
them.  That  is  an  invention  of  that  reporter.  A  man  came 
there  while  I  was  at  dinner  and  left  them  there.  He  left  the 
bombs  with  the  bookkeeper.      I   never  saw  him  before  or  after." 

Mr.  Ingham  introduced  a  letter  and  a  postal  card  found  in 
Spies'  desk,  the  reading  of  which,  as  translated  by  Mr.  Gauss, 
created  a  great  sensation.  Spies  acknowledged  the  writing  as 
addressed  to  him  by  Johann  Most,  the  noted  Anarchist  : 

"  Dear  Spies  : — Are  you  sure  that  the  letter  from  the 
Hocking  Valley  was  not  written  by  a  detective  ?  In  the  week  I 
will  go  to  Pittsburgh,  and  I  have  an  inclination  also  to  go  to  the 
Hocking  Valley.      For   the  present   I   send  you  some    printed 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  459 

matter.  There  Sch.  and  H.  also  existed  but  on  paper.  I  told 
you  this  some  months  ago.  On  the  other  hand,  I  am  able  to 
furnish  "medicine"  and  the  "genuine"  article  at  that.  Directions 
for  use  are  perhaps  not  needed  with  these  people.  Moreover, 
they  were  recently  published  in  the  "  Fr."  The  appliances  I  can 
also  send.  Now,  if  you  consider  the  address  of  Buchtell  thor- 
oughly reliable,  I  will  ship  twenty  or  twenty-five  pounds.  But 
how?  Is  there  an  express  line  to  the  place?  Or  is  there  an- 
other way  possible  ?  Polus  the  great  seems  to  delight  in  hop- 
ping about  in  the  swamps  of  the  N.  Y.  V.  Z.,  like  a  blown-up 
(bloated)  frog.  His  tirades  excite  general  detestation.  He  has 
made  himself  immensely  ridiculous.  The  main  thing  is  only 
that  the  fellow  cannot  smuggle  any  more  rotten  elements  into 
the  newspaper  company  than  are  already  in  it.  In  this  regard 
the  caution  is  important.  The  organization  here  is  no  better 
nor  worse  than  formerly.  Our  group  has  about  the  strength  of 
the  North  side  group  in  Chicago,  and  then,  besides  this,  we 
have  also  the  soc.  rev.  6,the  Austrian  and  Bohemian  leagues — three 
more  groups.  Finally,  it  is  easily  seen  that  our  influence  with 
the  trade  organizations  is  steadily  growing.  We  insert  our 
meetings  only  in  the  Fr.,  and  cannot  notice  that  they  are  worse 
attended  than  at  the  time  when  we  yet  threw  the  weekly  $1.50 
and  $2  into  the  mouth  of  the  N.  Y.  V.  Z.  Don't  forget  putting 
yourself  into  communication  with  Drury  in  reference  to  the 
English  organ.  He  will  surely  work  with  you  much  and  well. 
Such  a  paper  is  more  necessary  than  the  Tooth.  This,  indeed, 
is  getting  more  miserable  and  confused  from  issue  to  issue,  and 
in  general  is  whistling  from  the  last  hole.  Inclosed  is  a  fly-leaf 
which  recently  appeared  at  Emden,  and  is,  perhaps,  adapted  for 
reprint.     Greetings  to  Schwab,  Rau,  and  to  you.     Your 

"  Johann  Most. 

"  P.  S. — To  Buchtell  I  will,  of  course,  write  for  the  present 
only  in  general  terms. 

"A.  Spies,  107  Fifth  avenue,  Chicago,  111." 

Mr.  Gauss  then  read  the  following  as  his  translation  of  the 
postal  card  : 

"  Dear  Spies  : — I  had  scarcely  mailed  my  letter  yesterday 
when  the  telegraph  brought  news  from  H.  M.  One  does  not 
know  whether  to  rejoice  over  that  or  not.  The  advance  in 
itself  is  elevating.  Sad  is  the  circumstance  that  it  will  remain 
local,  and  therefore  may  not  have  the  result.  At  any  rate,  these 
people  made  a  better  impression  than  the  foolish  voters  on  this 
and  the  other  side  of  the  ocean.      Greeting  and  a  hail.     Your 

"J.  M." 


440  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

W.  A.  S.  Graham,  a  reporter  for  The  Times,  testified  that 
he  talked  with  the  witness  for  the  prosecution,  Harry  Gilmer,  on 
the  afternoon  of  May  5,  and  that  Gilmer  said  the  man  who  threw 
the  bomb  lit  the  fuse  himself.  Said  the  witness:  "He  said  he 
saw  the  man  light  the  fuse  and  throw  the  bomb,  and  that  he 
could  identify  him  again  if  he  saw  him.  He  said  the  man  was 
of  medium  size  and  had  a  soft  hat  and  whiskers.  He  said  the 
man's  back  was  turned  to  him." 

At  this  stage  the  defense  rested,  and  evidence  in  rebuttal 
was  introduced.  Justice  Daniel  Scully  testified  that  in  the  pre- 
liminary examination  of  one  Frank  Steuner,  charged  with  shoot- 
ing from  the  wagon  at  the  Haymarket,  Officers  Foley  and  Wess- 
ler  did  not  testify  that  it  was  Steuner  who  fired  on  the  police. 

"  Did  the  officers  not  say  the  man  who  jumped  up  from  be- 
hind the  wagon  was  a  heavy  man,  with  long  whiskers  (Fielden)  ?  " 
— "  They  did." 

"  Did  not  Officer  Foley  say  he  would  be  able  to  identify 
this  man  if  he  ever  saw  him  again  ?  " — "  He  did." 

John  B.  Ryan,  an  attorney  who  defended  Steuner  before 
Justice  Scully,  testified  that  Steuner  said  at  the  time  that  the  man 
who  did  the  shooting  was  a  short,  heavy-set  man  with  full  whiskers. 

United  States  District  Attorney  R.  S.  Tuthill,  Charles  B. 
Dibble,  an  attorney,  Judge  Chester  C.  Cole,  of  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  E.  R.  Mason,  Clerk  of  the  United  States  District  Court 
at  Des  Moines,  George  Crist,  Ex-City  Marshal  of  Des  Moines, 
and  Ex-Governor  Samuel  Merrill  of  Iowa,  all  testified  to  the 
good  character  of  the  witness  Gilmer.  They  would  believe  him 
under  oath.  Governor  Merrill  had  known  Gilmer  since  1872, 
and  had  given  him  employment. 

As  the  great  trial  drew  toward  its  close  popular  interest  in 
the  proceedings  increased.  The  Criminal  Court  building  was 
crowded  with  people  daily  long  before  the  hour  for  opening  court 
arrived,  and  many  times  the  number  who  gained  admission  were 
turned  away.  On  the  day  of  the  closing  argument  by  the  pros- 
ecution, and  while  the  jury  were  deliberating  over  their  verdict, 
extra  precautions  were  taken  to  protect  the  administrators  of 
the  law.  A  cordon  of  police  and  deputy  sheriffs  surrounded  the 
building,  and  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter  who  could  not  be 
properly  identified. 

MR.   WALKER  FOR  THE  PROSECUTION. 

Assistant  State's-Attorney  Frank  Walker  began  the  open- 
ing argument  for  the  prosecution  Wednesday,  August  11.  The 
speaker  said  : 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  441 

"  We  stand  in  the  temple  of  justice  to  exercise  the  law, 
where  all  men  stand  equal.  No  matter  what  may  have  been  the 
deep  turpitude  of  the  crime,  no  matter  what  may  have  been  the 
design,  though  it  aim  even  at  the  overthrow  of  the  law  itself, 
no  man  ought  to  be  convicted  of  the  crime  charged  until  proven 
guilty  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.  These  men  were  presumed 
innocent  at  the  outset  until  the  proof  presented  by  the  State  es- 
tablished their  guilt.  The  defendants  were  charged  with  mur- 
der. Murder  was  defined  to  be  the  unlawful  killing  of  a  person 
in  the  peace  of  the  people.  An  accessory  was  he  who  stands  by 
and  aids  or  abets  or  advises  the  deed,  or  who,  not  standing  by, 
aids  or  abets  or  advises  the  deed,  and  such  persons  are  to  be 
considered  as  principals  and  punished.  Whether  the  principals 
are  punished  or  not,  they  are  equally  as  guilty  as  the  principals. 
When  a  number  of  persons  conspire  together  to  do  a  certain  act, 
and  when,  in  furtherance  of  this  design,  some  one  is  killed,  all 
those  in  the  conspiracy  are  guilty  of  murder  before  the  fact. 
The  defendants'  counsel  have  told  you  these  men  conspired  to 
precipitate  the  social  revolution,  and  though  that  conspiracy  cost 
Matthias  J.  Degan  his  life,  yet  you  are  told  these  defendants  are 
guilty  only  of  murder.  Was  Luther  Payne  or  Mrs.  Surratt  held 
guilty  when  in  the  execution  of  a  conspiracy  President  Lincoln 
was  killed  ?  Neither  Payne  nor  Surratt  committed  the  deed,  yet 
they  were  held  guilty.  There  was  a  conspiracy  ;  it  was  designed 
to  bring  about  another  revolution.  Booth  killed  President  Lin- 
coln, but  all  who  participated  in  the  conspiracy  had  to  forfeit 
their  lives. 

"If  a  body  of  men,  inflamed  with  resentment,  proceed  to 
pull  down  a  building,  or  to  remove  an  objectionable  obstruction 
and  death  to  some  one  ensues,  each  one  of  these  men  is  individ- 
ually responsible  for  the  killing.  Nobody  knew  this  better  than 
August  Spies,  the  author  of  the  'Revenge'  circular.  Suppose 
that  a  body  of  men  undertake  to  pull  down  a  building;  there  is 
a  common  design  to  demolish  that  building,  and  a  stone  is  thrown, 
not  at  any  individual  but  at  the  building,  and  some  one  is  struck 
by  this  stone  and  killed,  all  of  those  engaged  in  the  execution  of 
that  common  design  are  responsible  for  the  killing  of  this  one 
person.  When  there  is  an  intent  grievously  to  hurt  and  death  is 
occasioned,  then  the  offense  is  murder.  Was  this  man  [pointing 
to  Fischer]  in  this  conspiracy  for  murder?  This  man  with  his 
revolver  a  foot  long  and  his  file  dagger  with  a  groove  ?  What  is 
this  groove  for  ?  It  is  for  prussic  acid.  Was  this  man  in  the 
conspiracy  ?" 


442  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Mr.  Walker  then  reads  a  passage  from  Most's  "Revolution- 
ary Warfare"  telling  how  prussic  acid  can  be  applied  to  grooved 
daggers,  making  them  the  more  deadly.  "This  is  the  test :  Was 
the  bomb  thrown  in  furtherance  of  the  common  design?  If  it 
was  it  makes  no  difference  whether  it  was  thrown  by  one  of  these 
conspirators  here  or  not.  Nobody  had  been  advocating  the  use 
of  dynamite  but  Socialists.  Was  there  anybody  who  would 
throw  a  bomb  except  a  Socialist  ?  We  have  proved  that  Lingg 
made  the  bomb  in  furtherance  of  the  common  design.  'You 
have  done  this,  Louis  Lingg,'  said  Huebner,  and  Lingg  went 
away  and  complained  that  he  was  blamed  for  doing  the  good 
work." 

Mr.  Walker  reiterates  that  every  one  of  the  3,000  men  said 
by  Spies  to  have  participated  in  the  conspiracy  were  equally 
guilty  of  the  murder  of  Officer  Degan.  All  the  members  of  the 
Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein  were  included  in  this  charge.  He  points 
out  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  witnesses  for  the  defense  are 
members  of  Anarchist  bodies  ;  that  their  sympathies  are  with  the 
prisoners  and  that  it  has  been  abundantly  shown  by  their  cross- 
examination  that  they  would  not  hesitate  to  pervert  the  truth  in 
order  to  shield  their  confederates  from  the  consequences  of  their 
acts. 

MR.  ZEISLER    FOR    THE    DEFENSE. 

Mr.  Zeisler,  of  the  counsel  for  the  defense,  sets  to  work  at 
once  to  tear  Mr.  Walker's  address  to  pieces.  He  accuses  the  as- 
sistant State's  Attorney  of  distorting  the  facts  in  the  case-,  and  at- 
tempting to  bring  about  a  conviction  by  working  on  the 
prejudices  and  suspicions  of  the  jury.  Mr.  Walker  impugned 
the  motives  and  the  characters  of  the  defenses'  witnesses.  Mr. 
Zeisler  continues  : 

"  Who  are  their  principal  witnesses?  The  policemen  who 
were  at  the  Haymarket.  And  before  we  get  through  we  will 
show  that  these  men  were  not  heroes,  but  knaves,  led  on  by  the 
most  cowardly  knave  who  ever  held  a  public  position.  It  has 
been  proved  that  most  of  these  policemen  who  went  on  the 
stand  had  been  at  one  time  or  another  members  of  the  detective 
force,  and  the  Supreme  Court  tells  us  that  a  detective  is  a  liar !  '' 

The  speaker  goes  on  to  attack  the  other  State  witnesses. 
Detectives  are  taken  from  the  criminal  classes.  Harry  L. 
Gilmer,  he  says,  is  a  constitutional  liar,  and  the  only  witness  who 
has  been  impeached.  Some  of  the  reporters,  he  acknowledges, 
tell  the  truth,  and  on  their  statements  the  defense  will  partially 
rely  to  show  the  innocence  of  the  prisoners. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  443 

"  Nobody  understands  why  the  police  came  down  to  break 
up  the  meeting.  Detectives  have  sworn  here  that  after  Mr. 
Parsons  suggested  that  the  meeting  adjourn  to  Zephf's  hall,  and 
the  sky  clouded  up,  the  crowd  dwindled  down  to  two  hundred  or 
three  hundred  men,  and  then  came  this  army  of  180  policemen, 
armed  with  clubs  and  revolvers,  headed  by  this  hero,  Bonfield, 
the  savior  of  his  country,  to  break  up  this  meeting  of  peaceable 
and  unarmed  citizens.  Was  this  courageous,  or  was  it  cowardly  ? 
It  was  an  assault  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  The  counsel  for  the 
State  have  attempted  to  make  you  believe  that  these  disciples  of 
Herr  Most  took  a  match  and  lighted  a  bomb  which  Most  says 
should  have  a  fuse  not  longer  than  two  inches.  Doesn't  it  seem 
very  probable  that  they  would  have  lighted  with  a  match  this 
fuse,  which  would  burn  out  in  a  few  seconds,  when  they  could 
have  carried  a  lighted  cigar  to  do  it  with  ?  We  have  the  testi- 
mony of  a  number  of  witnesses  that  Spies  was  not  out  of  the 
wagon  till  the  trouble  began  ;  and  if  Mr.  Grinnell  had  had  more 
sense  in  the  prosecution  of  this  case ;  if  he  had  not  been  blinded 
by  malice  and  prejudice  ;  if  he  had  not  been  influenced  by  the 
police  conspiracy  to  send  these  men  to  the  gallows,  he  would 
have  seen  the  uselessness  of  attempting  to  secure  a  conviction 
by  such  testimony  as  that  of  Gilmer." 

MR.   INGHAM    FOR    THE    PROSECUTION. 

Mr.  George  Ingham  addresses  the  jury  for  the  prosecution. 
He  tells  them  that  there  are  verdicts  which  make  history,  and 
that  theirs  will  be  a  history-making  verdict.  On  the  night  of 
May  4,  at  10  o'clock,  Matthias  J.  Degan  marched  out  of  the 
Desplaines  street  station,  full  of  life,  and  was  soon  afterward 
struck  down  by  the  hands  of  these  defendants,  not  one  of  whom 
he  had  ever  injured.  The  speaker  tells  the  jury  again  what 
"reasonable  doubt"  means.  He  says  that  the  grand  jury  might 
have  indicted  300  men  instead  of  eight,  but  they  saw  fit  to  pick 
out  the  eight  whom  they  deemed  the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy 
against  law  and  human  life.  There  had  been  a  good  deal  of 
talk,  he  said,  about  the  constitutional  right  of  free  speech.  The 
Constitution  gave  the  people  the  right  to  meet  and  petition,  but 
not  to  advise  other  people  to  commit  murder.  This  right  was 
based  upon  the  old  English  common  law,  and  in  England  was 
also  found  a  definition  of  what  constitutes  incitement  to  murder. 
The  case  he  was  going  to  quote  had  also  had  another  connection 
with  the  present  one.  It  was  brought  in  London  in  1881  against 
Johann  Most,  who  was  then  publishing  his  sheet,  the  Freiheit,  in 
that  city.      It  was  shortly  after  the  assassination  of  the  Czar  of 


444  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

Russia.  He  there  advocated  the  assassination  of  all  the  heads  of 
States,  from  Constantinople  to  Washington,  and  was  convicted 
of  inciting  to  murder.  Mr.  Ingham  read  the  proceedings  in  the 
English  court,  the  article  upon  which  he  was  tried,  and  Lord  Cole- 
ridge's decision.  Then  he  said  :  "  It  is  shown  that  these  defend- 
ants— Spies,  Parsons,  Schwab,  and  Fischer — were  engaged  in  the 
publication  of  articles  in  which  they  advised  the  destruction  of 
the  police  by  force,  in  which  they  advised  working  men  to  arm 
themselves  with  dynamite  and  be  ready  whenever  the  conflict 
should  come  to  destroy  the  police  force.  For  the  publication  of 
any  one  of  these  articles  the  defendants  could  have  been  con- 
victed of  a  misdemeanor.  And  when  Fielden  that  night  told  the 
people  that  war  had  been  declared  and  that  they  must  arm  them- 
selves to  resist  what  had  never  taken  place  he  was  guilty  of  a  mis- 
demeanor, and  for  that  reason,  if  for  no  other,  the  police  had  a 
right  to  disperse  the  meeting.  The  treatment  that  Herr  Most 
received  in  London  shows  you  that  the  only  salvation  of  a  com- 
munity is  to  enforce  the  letter  of  the  law  without  sentiment,  that 
bloodshed  may  be  avoided.  Herr  Most  was  convicted  for  the 
publication  of  that  article,  and  no  English  policemen  have  been 
blown  up  with  dynamite.  He  came  to  this  country,  and  the 
policemen  who  have  been  blown  up  are  the  American  officers 
right  here  in  this  city.  If  we  have  not  enforced  the  law  it  is 
high  time  that  we  enforce  it  now." 

Mr.  Ingham  then  showed  that  the  Haymarket  meeting  was  a 
trap  for  the  police  designed  for  the  purpose  of  leading  them  into 
a  dark,  dangerous  place,  the  speeches  being  the  bait,  artfully 
increased  until  the  police  came  to  the  alley  and  the  bomb  could 
be  thrown.  "  Now  who  made  the  bomb  ?  It  is  in  evidence  that 
Louis  Lingg  had  been  making  bombs  of  a  certain  construction 
which  Spies  had  said  were  superior,  being  of  composite  metal.  It 
is  in  evidence  that  Lingg  all  the  morning  of  May  4  was  away  from 
his  house  ;  that  he  upbraided  Seliger  for  having  made  but  one 
bomb.  During  the  afternoon  he  was  busy  making  bombs,  and 
men  came  and  went  and  worked  at  the  bombs  in  his  house. 
There  is  a  story  of  a  man  who  that  day  received  bombs  and 
dynamite  from  Lingg,  showing  that  he  distributed  them."  Mr. 
Ingham  read  to  the  jury  the  chemical  analysis  of  the  bombs  fur- 
nished by  Drs.  Haines  and  Delafontaine.  What's  the  answer  to 
all  this  ?  That  the  bomb  was  not  thrown  from  the  alley,  but 
from  thirty-eight  feet  south  of  the  alley.  And  if  they  had  satis- 
fied you  of  that,  was  it  not  still  thrown  by  one  of  the  Anarchists 
— one  of  the  conspirators  ?   The  bomb  came  from  the  conspiracy. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  445 

And  the  moment  it  resulted  in  the  death  of  Degan  the  crime  of 
conspiracy  was  merged  into  the  crime  of  murder.  * 

"When  Sumter  was  fired  on,  when  the  flag  was  insulted, 
when  the  attempt  was  made  to  destroy  the  Government,  it  was 
an  attempt  merely  to  change  the  form  of  government.  When 
the  bomb  in  this  war  was  thrown  it  was  the  opening  shot  of  a 
war  which  should  destroy  all  government,  destroy  all  law,  leave 
men  free  to  live  as  they  see  fit,  and  leave  nothing  to  guide  but  the 
strong  arm.  I  believe  for  myself  that  humanity — not  merely  our 
people,  not  merely  we  of  America,  but  that  humanity  the  wide 
world  over — has  no  hope  or  no  safety  save  in  the  law.  Law  is 
the  very  shield  that  guards  the  progress  of  the  race  ;  it  is  the 
palladium  of  the  liberty  and  lives  of  all  people.  Law  which 
does  not  punish  murder  breeds  death.  Jurors  who  from  the 
merciful  instincts  of  their  hearts  hesitate  to  convict  the  guilty 
are  in  reality  merciless  as  the  grave,  for  by  their  verdict  they 
people  graves  with  the  innocent  victims  of  midnight  assassina- 
tion and  fill  the  mind  with  deeds  of  blood.  Innocent  blood  from 
the  days  of  Abel  till  now  cries  to  Heaven  for  vengeance  ;  innocent 
blood  contaminates  the  ground  upon  which  it  falls,  and  from  it 
spring  up  dragon's  teeth.  And  now  if  you  believe  these  men 
guilty,  if  you  are  satisfied  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt,  as  you 
cannot  help  but  be,  that  these  men  were  a  party  to  a  conspiracy 
unlawful  in  its  nature,  and  that  from  that  conspiracy  a  human 
life  was  taken,  that  they  are  murderers  under  that  law,  see  to  it 
that  the  majesty  of  the  law  of  the  state  of  Illinois  is  vindicated, 
and  its  penalties  enforced.  That  is  the  demand  upon  you  this 
day  and  this  hour,  not  only  of  the  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois 
but  of  humanity  itself  ;  for  humanity,  with  all  its  fears,  with  all 
its  hopes  for  future  years,  is  hanging  breathless  on  your  fate." 

MR.    FOSTER    FOR    THE    DEFENSE. 

Mr.  Foster,  who  followed  for  the  defense,  had  not  long  lived 
in  Chicago.  He  came  in  March  from  Davenport,  Iowa,  near 
which  city  he  was  born  about  forty  years  ago.  He  is  of  medium 
height  and  square  build.  His  features  are  refined  and  intellect- 
ual. An  abundant  growth  of  rich  auburn  hair  adorns  his  shape- 
ly head.  Mr.  Foster  obtained  considerable  fame  as  a  lawyer  in 
his  native  state,  took  an  active  part  in  politics,  and  was  one  of 
the  Blaine  Electors  in  1884,  and  was  very  active  in  the  campaign 
of  that  year.  After  having  made  an  energetic  and  finely-elo- 
quent plea  to  the  jury  to  cast  aside  all  prejudice  arising  from 
hatred  of  the  principles  of  the  Anarchists,  love  of  and  loyalty 
to  the  land,  inherent  patriotism,  and  the  teachings  of  the  popu- 


446  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

lar  press,  Mr.  Foster  proceeded,  in  order  to  set  himself  right,  to 
tear  down  without  apology  the  theory  of  the  defense  set  up  by 
Messrs.  Salomon  &  Zeisler.  He  had  no  defense  to  make  for 
Socialism — it  is  dangerous  ;  Communism  is  pernicious,  and  An- 
archism is  damnable.  Lingg  had  manufactured  bombs,  and  he 
ought  to  be  punished  therefor ;  but  he  was  on  trial  for  throw- 
ing, not  manufacturing  bombs.  Spies,  Schwab  and  Fischer  had 
no  business  to  preach  social  revolution  in  America.  If  they  were 
not  satisfied  with  the  state  of  things  here  they  ought  to  have 
gone  back  to  Germany  and  tried  to  reform  things  there.  Mr. 
Fielden  might  have  found  occupation  in  teaching  his  brother 
Englishmen  to  be  just  to  Ireland.  Parsons  he  rebuked  in  an 
eloquent  passage  for  his  lack  of  patriotism.  Having  thus  skill- 
fully set  himself  right  with  the  jurors,  Mr.  Foster  proceeded 
to  define  the  issue  of  the  trial  as  he  understood  it,  and  as  he 
wished  the  jury  to  understand  it.  He  admitted  the  moral 
responsibility  of  some  of  the  prisoners  for  the  crime.  He 
denied  their  legal  responsibility. 

"  Our  law  knows  no  citizenship  when  a  defendant  is  brought 
to  the  bar  of  justice.  Our  law  is  grand  enough,  our  law  is 
broad  enough,  the  principles  upon  which  our  Government  is 
founded  are  such  that  it  matters  not  whether  he  be  French,  Ger- 
man, Irish,  Italian,  or  wherever  his  birthplace  may  be.  All  men 
are  equal  before  the  law.  They  are  all  citizens  of  the  United 
States  except  Louis  Lingg.  I  believe  the  testimony  shows  that 
he  has  been  in  the  country  two  years.  I  think  that  Spies  said  he 
came  here  in  infancy.  I  know  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  Neebe, 
born  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  never  was  a  foreigner. 
Schwab  has  been  in  this  country  long  enough  to  be  a  citizen. 
Whether  he  is  or  not  is  entirely  immaterial  for  the  purposes  of 
this  case.  I  know  that  Fielden  has  been  here  more  than  twenty 
years.  I  know  that  Fischer  has  been  in  Chicago  for  the  last  ten 
to  twelve  years,  and  Engel  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  What  is 
the  importance  of  the  suggestion  that  they  are  foreigners,  and 
Germans,  except  that  it  is  important  to  wring  from  you  a  verdict 
grounded  upon  prejudice.  *  *  *  It  was  an  open  secret  that 
the  defendants  were  indicted  for  murder,  conspiracy,  and  riot, 
but  I  will  only  argue  the  question  of  conspiracy  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  crime  of  murder.  The  question  of  Socialism  was 
of  no  importance  unless  it  was  connected  with  the  murder  of 
Degan,  and  the  defendants  were  not  being  tried  for  any  offense 
but  that  of  conspiracy  which  resulted  in  the  murder  of  Degan. 
The  prosecution  had  been  trying  to  tole  the  defendants  out  into 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  447 

the  underbrush  and  assassinate  them  on  immaterial  issues  ;  but 
the  defendants'  counsel  were  too  smart  to  be  seduced  by  the 
song  of  the  siren.  Suppose  Spies  et.  al.  did  conspire  to  over- 
throw society  and  their  conspiracy  stopped  there,  then  there  was 
nothing  to  argue.  A  verdict  rendered  upon  anything  else  than 
a  conspiracy  directly  connected  with  the  outrage  perpetrated  at 
the  Haymarket,  would  fall  to  the  ground  and  amount  to  nothing." 
Referring  to  the  popular  clamor  against  the  Socialists,  Mr. 
Foster  said  :  ''Outside  of  you  twelve  gentlemen,  the  judge  upon 
the  bench,  and  counsel  on  either  side,  there  is  not  a  man  in  Chi- 
cago who  has  a  right  to  say  he  has  an  opinion  founded  upon  the 
facts  in  this  case.  If  these  men  are  to  be  tried  on  general  prin- 
ciples for  advocating  doctrines  opposed  to  our  ideas  of  propriety, 
there  is  no  use  for  me  to  argue  the  case.  Let  the  Sheriff  go  and 
erect  the  scaffold  ;  let  him  bring  eight  ropes  with  dangling  nooses 
at  the  ends  ;  let  him  pass  them  around  the  necks  of  these  eight 
men  ;  and  let  us  stop  this  farce  now  if  the  verdict  and  conviction 
is  to  be  upon  prejudice  and  general  principles.  We  boast  of 
our  courts  of  justice,  of  our  equitable  law,  but  if  the  time  has 
come  when  men  are  to  be  prejudged  before  the  trial  and  con- 
victed upon  general  principles,  all  that  is  grand,  sacred,  noble 
and  praiseworthy  in  our  temples  of  justice  will  bedestroyed.  Con- 
sidering the  experience  of  us  all  in  relation  to  this  Haymarket 
tragedy,  considering  the  facts  that  we  know  to  be  true,  do  you 
blame  me  for  saying  I  am  afraid  of  your  passions  ?  I  am  afraid 
of  your  prejudices."  Holding  up  the  Czar  bomb,  Mr.  Foster  ex- 
claimed in  a  loud  voice  :  "  Hang  Spies,  and  Neebe,  and  Schwab, 
and  Parsons,  and  Fielden,  and  Fischer,  and  Lingg,  and  Engel!" 
Taking  up  a  tin  dynamite  can  he  continued  :  "  Among  other 
things,  three  tin  cans  were  found  under  a  sidewalk  in  the  city. 
Strangle  them  to  death,  in  part  because  these  three  cans  were 
found!  When  were  they  in  possession  of  any  of  the  defendants  ? 
Never,  so  far  as  the  testimony  is  concerned.  When  were  they 
prepared  and  filled  at  the  house  of  any  of  the  defendants,  or  any 
of  their  associates  ?  Never,  so  far  as  the  testimony  is  concerned. 
And  yet  they  are  not  only  introduced  in  evidence,  their  contents 
examined  and  sworn  to,  but  you  are  expected  to  smell  them  ;  you 
are  asked  to  examine  them  at  the  risk  of  a  headache,  and  they 
want  your  noses  near  to  their  tops.  Why  ?  Because  they  were 
found  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  And  that  is  part  of  the  testimony 
upon  which  the  lives  of  these  eight  men  are  to  be  destroyed. 
But  it  is  all  in  a  lifetime  ;  it  is  all  part  of  the  grand  combination  ; 
it  is  all  in  the  great  conspiracy,  because  counsel  tell  us  it  is.  Such 


44<^  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

evidence  was  never  introduced  in  any  court  of  justice  in  the  civ- 
ilized world  without  objection.  It  was  said  Herr  Most  described 
such  things  in  his  book  on  'Revolutionary  Warfare.'  There  is 
not  a  word  of  testimony  that  any  of  the  defendants  ever  read  that 
book.  But  that  does  not  make  any  difference.  They  are  Social- 
ists— hang  them.  That  does  not  make  any  difference.  They 
are  Communists — hang  them  ;  they  are  Anarchists — hang  them. 
I  always  supposed  that  the  lowest  creature  that  possessed  life 
was  entitled  to  some  consideration.  I  supposed  there  was  not  a 
thing  in  existence  so  low,  so  poor  or  loathsome,  but  had  some 
rights,  and  I  do  not  believe  it  now,  except  it  be  a  Socialist,  Com- 
munist or  Anarchist.  That  puts  them  beyond  the  pale  of  civili- 
zation ;  it  puts  them  beyond  the  protection  of  the  law;  it  convicts 
them  of  itself." 

CAPTAIN  W.  P.  BLACK  FOR  THE  DEFENSE. 

On  Tuesday,  August  17,  the  fiftieth  day  of  the  trial,  Cap- 
tain W.  P.  Black,  the  leading  counsel  for  the  defense,  made  his 
plea.      He  said  : 

"  May  it  please  the  Court,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury  :  On 
the  morning  of  May  5,  1886,  the  good  people  of  Chicago  were 
startled  at  the  event  which  happened  at  the  Haymarket.  Fear 
is  the  mother  of  cruelty,  and  perhaps  that  will  account  in  some 
measure  for  the  bitterness  with  which  the  State  has  prosecuted 
this  case.  The  serious  question  which  confronts  us,  however,  is 
to  what  extent,  you,  gentlemen,  in  your  deliberations,  ma}'  be 
influenced  by  passion  or  by  prejudice.  On  the  night  of  May  4 
a  dynamite  bomb  was  thrown  at  the  Haymarket  in  this  city  and 
exploded.  It  caused  widespread  havoc  and  loss  of  human  life. 
But  the  moral  responsibility  for  dynamite  does  not  rest  upon  the 
Socialists.  This  explosive  was  given  to  the  world  by  science. 
We  might  well  stand  appalled  at  the  dread  results  this  terrible 
agent  is  capable  of  producing.  When  a  man  is  charged,  or 
sought  to  be  charged,  with  a  crime,  as  in  this  case,  the  people 
must  show  who  threw  the  bomb — who  did  the  deed  — and  must 
show  that  these  defendants  were  connected  directly  with  the 
guilty  man." 

The  speaker  said  that  counsel  for  the  State  were  wrong  when 
one  of  them  advised  the  jury  that  upon  them  it  depended  to 
maintain  the  law  and  government,  because  these  defendants 
plotted  against  the  state.  They  were  revolutionists,  it  was  said, 
but  that  was  not  true.  There  can  be  no  revolution,  though,  ex- 
cept when  the  heart  of  the  people  rise  to  redress  some  great 
wrong. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  449 

"  As  to  the  witnesses  for  the  State,  the  testimony  of  two  of 
them,  Gilmer  and  Thompson,  who  swore  to  having  seen  Schnau- 
belt  throw  the  bomb,  was  impeached.  Gilmer's  story  was  utterly 
improbable  in  itself  ;  the  rational  mind  rejected  it.  Is  it  credi- 
ble ?  Mr.  Ingham  has  said  Spies  was  the  brainiest  man  among 
the  Anarchists,  and  the  greatest  coward.  The  witness  Gilmer 
testified  that  he  saw  Spies  get  down  from  the  wagon  and  go  into 
the  alley  with  Schnaubelt ;  saw  him  strike  the  light,  fire  the 
bomb,  and  give  it  to  Schnaubelt,  who  hurled  it  among  the  police. 
Is  that  credible  ?  Remember,  Spies,  a  man  of  brains,  of  more 
than  average  brains  ;  would  he  light  the  match  that  fired 
that  bomb,  and  the  police  almost  upon  him?  Is  that  cred- 
ible? It  was  also  said  Spies  was  a  great  coward.  Then,  if  that 
were  true,  would  he  run  the  risk  of  lighting  the  bomb  ?  The 
counter-proof  was  abundant.  A  half  a  dozen  reputable  citizens 
standing  in  the  mouth  of  the  alley  had  testified  that  they  did  not 
see  Spies  leave  the  wagon,  and  that  he  did  not  enter  the  alley 
before  the  bomb  exploded.  This  was  negative  testimony,  it 
was  true,  but  considering  the  narrow  space  and  how  unlikely  it 
was  that  Spies,  whom  they  all  knew,  could  enter  the  alley  with- 
out being  seen  by  the  witnesses,  it  was  conclusive.  Again,  two 
or  three  witnesses  testified  that  Schnaubelt  went  home  early  in 
the  evening,  disappointed  because  there  was  no  German  speak- 
ing, and  was  not  at  the  Haymarket  when  the  explosion  took 
place." 

The  circumstantial  evidence  presented  by  the  State,  and  by 
which  it  was  sought  to  enmesh  the  defendants,  was  next  consid- 
ered. The  case  of  the  state  was  substantially  this  :  The  meeting 
at  the  Haymarket  May  4  was  an  incident  in  the  carrying  out  of 
an  organized  scheme.  August  Spies  was  there  to  precipitate  a 
conflict  with  the  police.  He  put  Parsons  on  the  stand,  who 
made  a  long  harangue,  but  the  police  did  not  appear.  Then 
Fielden  was  put  up  to  speak.  The  police  came,  and  the  act  was 
accomplished.  But  who  called  this  meeting?  Not  Spies,  not 
Neebe,  not  Parsons,  not  Schwab,  nor  Engel,  nor  Lingg,  nor 
Fischer,  as  an  individual  act.  It  was  the  result  of  another  meet- 
ing, held  the  night  before  at  54  West  Lake  street,  and  about 
which  Spies  knew  nothing. 

"Again,  the  State  wished  it  to  be  understood  that  Spies,  in 
order  to  get  the  men  ripe  for  revolt,  went  out  to  McCormick's 
May  3,  and  forced  himself  on  a  meeting  there.  Then,  having 
worked  up  his  auditors  to  a  pitch  of  excitement  and  inflamed 
them  to  attack  the    non-union  men,   he   came  down  town   and 

29 


450  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

wrote  the  '  Revenge  '  circular,  calling  for  the  Haymarket  meet- 
ing. But  did  he  encourage  the  men  at  McCormick's  to  vio- 
lence? The  testimony,  and  it  was  not  controverted,  proved  that 
he  counseled  peace  ;  that  he  told  the  men  to  stand  firm  and  to 
trust  to  concerted  action  for  the  attainment  of  their  ends.  The 
further  circumstance  proving  that  no  evidence  was  contemplated 
that  night  consisted  in  this,  that  when  the  black  cloud  came  up 
and  rain  was  threatened,  an  adjournment  was  proposed.  Fielden 
had  the  stand  at  that  time,  but  he,  simple  soul,  begged  a  few 
minutes'  delay,  saying  he  had  but  little  more  to  say,  and  then  in 
all  simplicity  went  on  to  say  it.  All  this  was  in  the  line  going 
to  prove  that  Spies  had  no  connection  with  the  alleged  conspir- 
acy. The  circular  calling  for  the  Tuesday  night  meeting  referred 
to  a  specific  object.  Do  not  the  circumstances,"  continued 
Captain  Black,  "prove  that  August  Spies  was  not  aware  of  the 
meeting  held  May  3  ?  Do  they  not  prove  that  he  could  have 
no  share  in  the  design  of  that  meeting,  of  which  the  one  at  the 
Haymarket,  with  its  result,  was  an  incident  in  the  general  con- 
spiracy ?  As  to  the  Haymarket  meeting,  was  it  not  a  lawful 
assemblage  ?  Who  first  broke  the  laws  ?  That  meeting  was 
called  by  a  circular.  It  was  called  to  denounce  a  grievance. 
Perhaps  there  was  no  real  grievance,  but  if  the  projectors  of  the 
meeting  thought  there  was  they  had  the  right  to  assemble.  The 
Constitution  given  us  by  our  forefathers  who  made  the  name  of 
revolutionists  glorious,  gave  us  that  right.  That  right  was  in- 
corporated in  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  nation.  One  clause 
in  the  Constitution  allows  the  people  to  assemble  together  in  a 
peaceable  manner  to  discuss  their  grievances,  another  provides 
that  the  people  have  the  right  to  assemble  together  in  a  peace- 
able manner  to  discuss  measures  for  their  common  good,  and  to 
instruct  their  representatives.  I  am  not  here  to  defend  Social- 
ism, nor  do  I  contend  that  Anarchy  has  in  it  the  elements  of 
true  reform,  but  I  am  here  to  defend  these  men.  They  are 
Socialists.  That  system  centuries  ago  had  the  sanction  of  St. 
Augustine.  John  Stuart  Mill  is  one  of  a  great  host  of  philoso- 
phers who  have  subscribed  in  fealty  to  Socialism. 

"These  defendants  have  the  right  to  discuss  the  great 
wrongs  of  the  working  people.  They  have  the  right  to  try 
their  remedy.  They  say  that  private  property  is  robbery.  That 
may  be  false.  There  is  not  a  Catholic  organization  that  is  not 
founded  on  the  idea  of  common  co-operation.  It  was  Plato's 
dream  that  the  means  of  existence  should  be  the  common  prop- 
erty of  all.     The  Anarchist  or  Socialist  was  said  to  believe  that 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  45  I 

every  law  of  man  was  a  bone  of  contention,  intended  for 
the  benefit  of  one  class  only.  The  fact  that  these  defendants 
are  Anarchists  is  not  a  fact  which  would  justify  the  jury  in 
taking  their  lives.  These  men  are  not  the  lazy  fellows  pictured 
by  the  state." 

STATE'S    ATTORNEY    JULIUS    S.  GR1NNELL    FOR    THE    PROSECUTION. 

State's  Attorney  Grinnell  closed  for  the  State,  and  he  beo-an 
his  remarks  by  criticising  counsel  for  the  defense  for  making 
heroes  of  the  prisoners.  The  Anarchists  were  compared  to  the 
fathers  of  our  country  ;  they  were  pictured  as  martyrs,  as  men 
who  sacrificed  themselves  for  the  welfare  of  human  kind.  If  that 
be  so,  songs  of  praise  should  be  sung,  and  the  Anarchists  ought 
to  be  garlanded  with  flowers.  Captain  Black  had  said  that 
society  was  discriminating  against  the  poor  ;  that  the  struggle 
for  existence  was  daily  becoming  harder.  That  was  not  true, 
for  civil  liberty  was  never  before  as  widespread  as  it  is  at  present. 
Mr.  Grinnell  said  the  case  had  received  his  entire  attention  since 
May  5.  Government  was  on  trial.  Murder  had  been  committed. 
It  was  sought  to  know  who  was  responsible.  For  a  few  days 
after  the  Haymarket  riot  it  was  not  thought  it  was  more  far- 
reaching  than  the  results  of  the  inflammatory  speech-making.  It 
was  not  until  after  the  magnificent  efforts  of  Captain  Schaack 
that  a  conspiracy  was  developed.  Then  Schnaubelt  was  discov- 
ered. It  was  not  until  after  Spies  was  arrested  that  it  became 
apparent  that  a  man  was  capable  of  the  hellish  act  in  which  he 
was  concerned.  A  mistake  had  been  made.  It  was  said  the 
State  would  show  who  the  bomb-thrower  was.  This  had  not 
been  done,  owing  to  the  inability  of  certain  witnesses  to  make 
good  on  the  stand  the  statements  they  had  before  that  made  to 
the  officers.  These  men  were  not  Socialists,  but  Anarchists,  and 
their  creed  is  no  government,  no  law.  Until  placed  on  the  stand 
these  men  never  hedged  on  that  definition.  It  was  sought  to  be 
shown  that  the  defendants  were  barking  dogs  that  would  not 
bite.  These  men  were  on  trial,  law  was  on  trial,  Anarchy  was 
on  trial  for  treason.  The  penalty  of  treason  is  death.  A  man 
can  commit  an  overt  act  of  treason,  and  not  kill  anybody.  Is 
it  any  the  less  treason  because  seven  men  are  killed  and 
sixty  wounded  ?  There  is  no  statute  of  limitation  for  threats, 
when  repeated  threats  resulted  in  the  commission  of  the  deed. 
For  years  past,  on  the  Lake  front  and  at  the  different  so-called 
Socialistic  halls  in  the  city,  these  men  had  preached  the  use  of 
dynamite,  poison  and  daggers  as  a  means  of  effecting  the  social 
revolution.     The  thing  should  have  been  stopped  long  ago.    But 


452  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

that  was  foreign  to  the  case.  The  men  were  here  now  on  trial 
for  murder.  Their  threats  had  been  carried  out.  It  did  not 
matter  whether  any  police  officers  had  overstepped  their  duty  ; 
the  jury  had  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  that.  The  accused  were 
on  trial  for  murder. 

On  the  Lake  front  the  Anarchists  were  wont  to  assemble 
under  the  red  flag,  which  they  described  as  the  emblem  of  univer- 
sal liberty.  But  there  was  but  one  flag  of  liberty — that  was  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  ;  and  it  would  always  remain  such  if  the  gentle- 
men of  the  jury  had  the  courage  to  uphold  the  law.  Threats 
had  been  mouthed,  dire  vaporings  were  spread  from  one  group 
to  another  to  fill  the  people  with  terror,  so  that  the  social  revo- 
lution might  the  more  easily  be  accomplished.  Mr.  Grinnell 
holds  that  Spies  wrote  the  "Revenge"  circular  premeditatedly. 
He  reads  it  to  the  jury  commenting  on  various  passages  con- 
tained therein,  and  makes  it  plain  to  the  jury  that  Spies  had  an 
ulterior  and  sinister  purpose  in  view  when  he  penned  the  famous 
dodger.  There  were  only  two  officers  at  McCormick's  when  the 
mob  Spies  was  addressing  broke  loose  and  attacked  the  non-un- 
ion men.  The  police  were  called,  but  why  ?  To  protect  the 
McCormick  property  and  the  two  officers  from  the  fury  of  the 
mob  as  well  as  to  save  the  non-union  men  from  being  killed.  It 
was  this  sight — the  coming  of  additional  police — that  made  the 
blood  of  the  valorous  Spies  boil.  Knowing  that  no  fatalities  had 
taken  place,  or  not  knowing  that  any  had  occurred,  Spies  posted 
down  town,  and  the  "Revenge"  circular  was  written  by  him  and 
in  the  hands  of  the  printer  before  5  o'clock  that  same  afternoon. 
Balthazar  Rau's  name  was  mentioned  every  day  time  and  time 
again  by  the  defense,  but  he  was  not  called  as  a  witness.  They 
were  afraid  to  put  him  on  the  stand.  It  was  Rau  who  invited 
Spies  to  address  the  Haymarket  meeting,  and  he  was  present 
when  Spies  made  his  speech.  That  was  a  kind  of  Marc  Antony 
address,  and  to  be  understood  one  must  read  it  between  the  lines. 
It  was  artfully  calculated  to  inflame.  It  was  a  significant  open- 
ing. The  working  men  were  told  to  come  armed.  Waller  did 
come  armed.  The  police  should  have  broken  up  the  meeting 
in  its  incipiency.  If  Bonfield  had  not  gone  down  there  at  the 
time  he  did  the  riot  would  have  been  general.  The  reason  more 
bombs  were  not  thrown  was  that  the  other  fellows  in  the  con- 
spiracy had  not  time  to  reach  the  scene.  The  man  who  threw 
the  bomb  obtained  it  from  Lingg  or  Spies  and  hurled  it  accord- 
ing to  directions  received  from  one  or  other  of  these  men.  Did 
Fielden  shoot  that   night  ?     For  years   past  he   has  called   the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  453 

police  bloodhounds ;  he  said  he  would  march  down  Michigan 
avenue  with  the  red  flag  or  the  black  flag,  and  preached  "death 
to  the  capitalists  and  the  police,  our  despoilers."  This  must  be 
understood  above  all  things  ;  that  the  bomb  was  thrown  in  furth- 
erance of  the  common  design,  no  matter  who  threw  it.  Gilmer 
said  Spies  handed  the  bomb  to  Schnaubelt.  Is  that  improbable  ? 
For  years  he  preached  the  throwing  of  bombs.  An  article  over 
his  own  signature  is  in  evidence,  and  in  this  he  gives  directions 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  bombs  should  be  ignited  and  hurled 
at  the  enemy.  Who  was  Schnaubelt  ?  Schwab's  brother-in-law. 
He  is  the  man  who  was  arrested  before  the  conspiracy  was  known 
and  let  go,  then  shaved  off  his  whiskers,  and  has  not  been  seen 
since.  A  peculiar  circumstance,  and  the  most  significant  of  the 
case,  was  that  when  Spies  was  arrested  he  left  the  traces  of  his 
crime  in  his  office.  Bonfield  arrested  him.  Spies  said  he  went 
over  to  the  Central  station  unsuspectingly.  Had  he  known  what 
was  going  to  have  happened  he  would  have  destroyed  the  "Ruhe" 
manuscript.  It  was  the  little  mistakes  that  brought  the  criminal  to 
justice,  and  there  never  was  a  criminal,  big  or  little,  that  did  not 
leave  traces  of  his  crime  behind  him. 

Mr.  Grinnell  concluded  by  saying  his  labor  was  over ;  the 
jury's  was  just  begun.  They  had  the  power  to  exact  the  lives  of 
some  of  the  prisoners,  to  others  they  might  give  a  term  of  years 
in  the  penitentiary,  and  some  again  they  might  acquit.  He  would 
not  ask  the  jury  to  take  the  life  of  Oscar  Neebe.  He  would  not 
ask  the  jury  to  do  what  he  would  not  do  himself.  The  proof  was 
not  sufficient  to  convict  Neebe,  but  some  of  them,  Spies,  Fischer, 
Lin^or  Engel,  Fielden,  Parsons,  and  Schwab,  ouorht  to  have  the 
extreme  penalty  administered  to  them. 

"  Personally,"  said  Mr.  Grinnell,  "  I  have  not  a  word  to  say 
against  these  men.  But  the  law  demands  that  they  be  punished. 
They  have  violated  the  law,  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
stand  between  the  living  and  the  dead.  Do  your  duty.  Do  not 
disagree.  If  you  think  that  some  of  them  do  not  deserve  the 
death  penalty  give  them  a  life  sentence,  but  do  not  disagree. 
Gentlemen,  this  is  no  pleasant  task  for  me,  but  it  is  my  duty; 
do  yours." 

In  his  instructions  to  the  jury  Judge  Gary  said  :  "The 
Court  instructs  the  jury  that  whoever  is  guilty  of  murder  shall 
suffer  the  punishment  of  death,  or  imprisonment  in  the  peniten- 
tiary for  his  natural  life,  or  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  fourteen 
years.  If  the  accused  are  found  guilty  by  a  jury  they  shall  fix 
the  punishment  by  their  verdict. 


454  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

"  The  Court  instructs  the  jury  as  a  matter  of  law  that,  in 
considering'  the  case,  the  jury  are  not  to  go  beyond  the  evidence 
to  hunt  up  doubts,  nor  must  they  entertain  such  doubts  as  are 
merely  chimerical  or  conjectural.  A  doubt  to  justify  an  acquittal 
must  be  reasonable,  and  must  arise  from  a  candid  and  impartial 
investigation  of  all  the  evidence  in  the  case,  and  unless  it  is  such 
that,  were  the  same  kind  of  doubt  interposed  in  the  graver 
transactions  of  life,  it  would  cause  a  reasonable  and  prudent  man 
to  hesitate  and  pause,  it  is  insufficient  to  authorize  a  verdict  of 
not  guilty.  If,  after  considering  all  the  evidence,  you  can  say 
you  have  an  abiding  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  charge,  you 
are  satisfied  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt. 

"  If  it  does  so  prove,  then  your  duty  to  the  State  requires 
you  to  convict  whosoever  is  found  guilty.  The  case  of  each  of 
the  defendants  should  be  considered  with  the  same  care  and 
scrutiny  as  if  he  alone  were  on  trial.  If  a  conspiracy  having 
violence  and  murder  as  its  object  is  fully  proved,  then  the  acts 
and  declarations  of  each  one  of  the  conspirators,  before  or  after 
May  4,  which  are  merely  narrative  as  to  what  had  been  or  would 
be  done,  and  not  made  to  aid  in  carrying  into  effect  the  object  of 
the  conspiracy,  are  only  evidence  against  the  person  who  made 
them.  What  are  the  facts  and  what  is  the  truth  the  jury  must 
determine  from  the  evidence,  and  from  that  alone.  If  there  are 
any  unguarded  expressions  in  any  of  the  instructions  which 
seem  to  assume  the  existence  of  any  facts,  or  to  be  any  intima- 
tion as  to  what  is  proved,  all  such  expressions  must  be  discour- 
aged and  the  evidence  only  looked  to  to  determine  the  facts. 

"  The  Court  instructs  the  jury  as  a  matter  of  law  that  an 
accessory  is  he  who  stands  by  and  aids,  abets,  or  assists,  or  who, 
not  being  present,  aiding,  abetting,  or  assisting,  has  advised, 
encouraged,  aided  or  abetted  the  perpetration  of  that  crime. 
He  who  thus  aids,  abets,  assists,  advises  or  encourages  shall  be 
considered  as  a  principal  and  punished  accordingly.  Every  such 
accessory  when  a  crime  is  committed  within  or  without  this 
state  by  his  aid  or  procurement  in  this  state,  may  be  indicted 
and  convicted  at  the  same  time  as  the  principal,  or  before  or 
after  his  conviction,  and  whether  the  principal  is  convicted  or 
amenable  to  justice  or  not,  and  punished  as  principal. 

"  If  the  defendants  attempted  to  overthrow  the  law  by 
force  and  threw  the  bomb,  then  the  defendants  who  were  in  the 
conspiracy  were  guilty  of  murder.  If  there  was  an  Anarchistic 
conspiracy,  and  the  defendants  were  parties  to  it,  they  are  guilty 
of  murder,  though  the  date  of  the  culmination  of  the  conspiracy 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  455 

was  not  fixed.  If  any  of  the  defendants  conspired  to  excite  by 
advice  people  to  riot  and  murder,  such  defendants  are  guilty  if 
such  murder  was  done  in  pursuance  of  said  conspiracy ;  the 
impracticalness  of  the  aim  of.  the  defendants  is  immaterial. 

"Circumstantial  evidence  is  competent  to  prove  guilt,  and 
if  defendants  conspired  to  overthrow  the  law  and  Degan  was 
killed  in  consequence,  the  parties  are  guilty,  and  it  is  not  neces- 
sary that  any  of  the  defendants  were  present  at  the  killing. 

"All  parties  to  the  conspiracy  are  equally  guilty.  Circum- 
stantial evidence  must  satisfy  the  jury  beyond  reasonable  doubt. 
In  such  case  the  jury  may  find  defendants  guilty.  When 
defendants  testified  in  the  case  they  stood  on  the  same  ground 
as  other  witnesses." 

THE  VERDICT. 

The  jury  retired  at  2:50  o'clock  Thursday,  August  19.  The 
first  intimation  that  an  agreement  had  been  reached  was  when 
word  was  sent  to  the  Revere  house  to  prepare  supper  for  the 
jury,  it  having  been  understood  that  unless  a  decision  as  to  the 
fate  of  the  prisoners  was  reached  before  10  o'clock,  supper  would 
not  be  served  at  that  time.  Friday  morning  the  excitement  of 
the  crowd  in  front  of  the  Criminal  Court  building  was  something 
intense  while  the  verdict  was  being  awaited.  There  was  none  of 
the  joking  and  laughing  that  is  heard  on  the  only  otfier  occasion 
that  brings  a  mob  to  stand  without  those  dreary  walls — the  exe- 
cution of  a  convicted  criminal.  Such  conversations  as  were  held 
were  in  a  low  tone,  and  related  solely  to  the  one  topic — the 
probable  conviction  of  the  eight  prisoners  who  were  waiting  for 
the  hour  which  was  to  mean  life  or  death  to  them.  Both  sides 
of  the  street  were  lined  with  people  who  awaited  anxiously  for 
some  tidings  from  the  court  within.  An  army  of  bailiffs  and  po- 
licemen guarded  the  big  doors,  and  the  surging  masses  were  only 
kept  back  by  sheer  force.  The  limited  number  who  obtained 
admission  to  the  courtroom  were  the  reporters  and  the  imme- 
diate friends  and  relatives  of  the  defendants.  The  gaily-dressed 
women  who  had  attended  the  trial  since  the  start  were  not  there. 
The  court  officials  decided  that  the  relatives  of  the  prisoners 
should  be  allowed  in  the  courtroom,  and  at  9:15  o'clock  the  sister 
of  Spies,  with  another  young  woman,  made  her  appearance. 
Shortly  afterward  the  mother  of  Spies,  accompanied  by  a  younger 
son,  also  entered  the  courtroom  and  took  a  seat  on  the  back 
benches.  At  9:20  Mrs.  Parsons  entered  the  courtroom,  accom- 
panied by  a  woman  who  attended  her  throughout  the  trial.  She 
was  given  a  seat  between  two  policemen.     The  row  of  seats  far- 


456  TOLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

thest  removed  from  the  judge  were  occupied  by  a  force  of  police 
officers.  Next  below,  seated  in  the  order  named,  were  Henry 
Spies;  Mrs.  Spies,  the  prisoner's  mother;  Miss  Spies;  Chris 
Spies,  and  a  young  lady  friend.  Next  below  was  Mrs.  Martin. 
The  ladies  looked  anxious.  Mrs.  and  Miss  Spies  and  Mrs.  Par- 
sons looked  worn  out,  though  the  latter  tried  to  appear  uncon- 
cerned, and  occupied  her  time  in  reading  the  newspapers.  It 
was  9:50  o'clock  when  the  Judge  came  in.  He  looked  nervous 
and  excited.  He  was  barely  seated  when  Captain  Black  entered. 
The  Captain  took  a  seat  near  his  wife.  He  had  just  paid  a  visit 
to  his  clients. 

"Are  they  prepared  for  the  worst?"  asked  Mrs.  Black, 
anxiously. 

"  Prepared  ! ''  repeated  the  Captain.  "  Yes  ;  fully  prepared 
to  laugh  at  death.  They  talk  about  the  matter  much  more 
coolly  than  I  can." 

A  moment  or  two  later  the  prisoners  were  brought  in. 
They  were  not  given  their  usual  seats,  but  placed  in  a  row  on  a 
bench  against  the  wall  at  the  Judge's  left,  in  the  narrow  aisle 
leading  to  the  passage  way  to  the  jail.  They  sat  in  the  same  old 
order.  Spies  was  at  the  head,  next  to  the  Judge.  All  looked 
haggard  and  excited.  Even  the  usually  stoical  face  of  Lingg 
wore  an  expression  of  anxiety.  Fischer  was  deathly  pale  and 
trembled  visibly.  These  pale  and  trembling  wretches  were  the 
braggarts  who  a  few  short  weeks  before  were  boldly  proclaiming 
the  doctrines  of  Socialism  and  Anarchy  on  the  Lake  front,  in 
Zephf's  hall  and  the  beer  saloons  of  the  North  and  West  sides. 
They  were  the  men  who  were  advocating  force  and  the  use  of 
dynamite,  and  the  total  annihilation  of  law  and  order,  the  theft 
of  property,  and  murder  of  citizens.  Their  vapid  mouthings 
were  thrust  upon  assemblages  of  decent  working  men,  their  pol- 
icy was  Communism,  their  banner  was  the  banner  of  blood,  and 
their  teachings  were  death  and  destruction.  Bold  and  fearless 
as  lions  they  appeared  when  indulging  in  flights  of  incendiary 
oratory.  Like  dumb,  obedient  beasts  they  bowed  in  submission 
before  the  most  powerful  scourge  the  law  can  wield — the  death 
verdict. 

The  jurymen  filed  in  and  took  their  seats  in  the  jury  box. 
They  looked  determined  and  resolute.  There  was  a  death-like 
silence  in  the  court.  In  a  low  voice  the  Judge  asked  :  "  Gentle- 
men, have  you  agreed  ?"  F.  E.  Osborne,  the  foreman,  rose  and 
replied:  "  We  have,  your  Honor."  Taking  out  two  sheets  of 
foolscap   from    his    side  coat-pocket,  he  handed  them  to  Clerk 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTV,   AND  ILLINOIS. 


457 


Doyle,  who  glanced  at  them  and  handed  them  to  the  Judge,  who 
slipped  them  apart,  trembling  so  that  the  leaves  shook  violently. 
A  whispered  consultation  between  the  Judge  and  the  Clerk  fol- 
lowed, and  the  document  was  returned  to  Mr.  Doyle,  who  read  : 

"  We,  the  jury,  find  the  defendants,  August  Spies,  Michael 
Schwab,  Samuel  Fielden,  Albert  R.  Parsons,  Adolph  Fischer, 
George  Engel  and  Louis  Lingg,  guilty  of  murder,  as  charged  in 
the  indictment,  and  fix  the  penalty  at  death. 

"  We  find  the  defendant,  Oscar  W.  Neebe,  guilty  of  murder 
in  manner  and  form  as  charged  in  the  indictment,  and  fix  the 
penalty  at  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  at  fifteen  years." 

Not  a  sound  came  from  the  spectators.  For  a  moment  the 
courtroom  was  silent  as  the  tomb.  The  prisoners  were  struck 
with  horror.  Spies1  face  blanched  white  as  the  paper  on  which 
his  death  sentence  was  written.  His  lips  quivered,  and  he 
mechanically  tapped  the  floor  with  his  foot  and  nervously  stroked 
his  moustache.  Neebe  was  completely  stunned.  The  blood 
rushed  to  his  face,  and  the  perspiration  stood  out  on  his  forehead 
in  great  drops.  Schwab's  yellow  face  seemed  to  look  into 
vacancy,  and  he  had  a  wandering,  stupid  stare.  Parsons  was 
visibly  affected,  but  he  kept  himself  up  better  than  the  rest,  and 
maintained  a  certain  air  of  nonchalance.  He  made  an  effort  to 
flaunt  a  red  handkerchief  out  of  the  window  at  the  crowd  on  the 
outside,  but  was  promptly  checked  by  a  bailiff,  Fielden  fairly 
quaked.  He  shook  like  an  aspen  leaf,  and  in  every  way  showed 
his  great  fear.  Fischer  was  ghastly.  When  the  verdict  was 
first  being  read  he  held  a  half-consumed  cigar  in  his  mouth,  but 
when  the  death  penalty  was  reached  the  weed  fell  from  his  lips 
to  the  floor.  Lingg  appeared  sullen  and  stoical,  but  when  the 
sentence  was  read  his  face  flushed,  and  he  was  seen  to  tremble. 
Engel  betrayed  no  emotion.  When  the  verdict  became  known 
to  the  thousands  assembled  outside  a  great  cheer  rent  the  air. 

Captain  Black  asked  that  the  jury  be  polled.  The  jurymen 
answered  with  firm  voices.  Captain  Black  said  he  would  desire 
to  make  a  motion  for  a  new  trial.  State's  Attorney  Grinnell 
said  it  would  be  impossible  to  dispose  of  the  motion  during  the 
present  term,  but  by  agreement,  the  motion  could  be  argued  at 
the  September  term.     This  was  agreed  to  by  the  defense. 

The  Court. — "  Let  the  motion  be  entered  and  continued 
until  the  next  term,  and  let  the  defendants  be  taken  back  to  jail." 
Judge  Gary  then  arose  and  addressed  the  jury  as  follows  : 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Jury: — You  have  finished  this  long 
and  very  arduous  trial,  which   has  required  a  very  considerable 


458  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

sacrifice  of  time,  and  some  hardship.  I  hope  that  everything  has 
been  done  that  could  possibly  be  done  to  make  those  sacrifices 
and  hardships  as  mild  as  might  be  permitted.  It  does  not  be- 
come me  to  say  anything  in  regard  to  the  case  that  you  have 
tried,  or  the  verdict  you  have  rendered  ;  but  men  compulsorily 
serving  as  jurors,  as  you  have  done,  deserve  some  recognition  of 
the  service  you  have  performed  besides  the  meager  compensation 
you  have  received." 

The  Foreman  of  the  jury  said  :  "  The  jury  have  deputed  to 
me  the  only  agreeable  duty  that  it  is  in  our  province  to  perform, 
and  that  is  to  thank  the  Court  and  the  counsel  for  the  defense 
and  for  the  prosecution  for  your  kindly  care  to  make  us  as 
comfortable  as  possible  during  our  confinement.  We  thank 
you.v 

The  jury  then  filed  out,  and  scarcely  had  they  left  the  room 
when  a  shrill  shriek  was  heard,  and  Mrs.  Schwab  fell  heavily  to 
the  floor.  She  was  taken  out  into  the  fresh  air  by  policemen, 
and  soon  revived.  Mrs.  Spies  followed  up  this  scene  by  going 
into  hysterics,  and  also  had  to  be  assisted  from  the  room.  The 
other  women  kept  their  nerves,  and  after  the  first  shock  main- 
tained composure.  In  the  meantime  the  crowd  had  closed  in  on 
the  prisoners,  and  were  examining  them  from  head  to  foot.  The 
bailiffs,  however,  promptly  put  a  stop  to  this,  and  led  the 
condemned  men  away  to  their  cells. 

THE    CONDEMNED. 

August  Spies  was  born  in  Friedewald,  in  the  province  of 
Hesse,  Germany,  in  1855.  He  was  educated  by  a  private  tutor 
during  his  earlier  years,  after  which  he  studied  at  a  polytechnic 
institute.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  took  up  the  study  of  for- 
estry. A  year  later  he  sailed  for  America.  He  came  to  Chicago 
immediately,  and  secured  a  position  in  an  upholstery  establish- 
ment, where  he  remained  some  time,  afterward  going  to  Fairbury, 
in  this  state.  He  returned  to  this  city  soon  after,  and  was  en- 
gaged in  various  occupations  until  1880.  In  that  year  he  was  a 
candidate  for  the  position  of  West  Town  Collector,  on  the 
Socialistic  ticket.  In  the  spring  of  1880  he  took  charge  of  the 
business  management  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  shortly  afterward 
assuming  the  position  of  editor. 

Samuel  Fielden  was  born  in  Todmorden,  Lancashire,  Eng- 
land, February  25,  1847.  He  worked  in  a  cotton  mill  in  various 
capacities  from  the  time  he  was  eight  years  old  till  he  reached 
his  majority.  When  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he  went  to 
Westlyn,  and  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  becoming 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  459 

a  Sunday-school  superintendent,  and  afterward  a  local  preacher. 
He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1866.  After  working  East  he 
went  to  Olmstead  Falls,  near  Cleveland,  Ohio,  removing  to 
Summit,  Cook  county,  in  1869,  where  he  worked  upon  the  farm 
of  "  Long"  John  Wentworth.  He  then  went  South,  and  took 
up  his  residence  in  Chicago  in  1871. 

Albert  R.  Parsons  is  a  Southerner.  He  was  born  in  Mont- 
gomery, Ala.,  June  20,  1848.  He  came  from  good  stock.  His 
father  was  Samuel  P.  Parsons  of  Maine,  and  his  mother  was 
from  New  Jersey.  His  ancestors  were  English,  and  came  to  this 
country  in  1632.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  two  years  old, 
and  his  father  three  years  later.  In  1853  he  went  to  live  with 
his  brother,  General  W.  H.  Parsons,  in  Tyler,  Texas,  and  was 
raised  by  him.  He  was  apprenticed  to  the  Galveston  News  in 
1859,  f°r  seven  years,  and  learned  the  printer's  trade.  When 
the  war  broke  out,  in  1 861,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Lone 
Star  Grays,  on  the  Confederate  side,  and  later  on  became  a 
scout.  In  1868  he  went  to  Waco,  Texas,  and  started  the 
Spectator,  afterward  becoming  connected  with  the  Houston 
Daily  Telegram.  It  was  in  Houston  that  he  met  his  wife,  and 
married  her  in  1872.  He  came  here  with  her  in  1873,  and 
worked  as  a  printer  until  he  was  arrested,  in  1877,  on  account  of 
his  interference  in  the  strikes.  He  ran  for  several  offices  on  the 
Socialistic  ticket,  and  finally  started  the  Alarm. 

Michael  Schwab  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  Kibringer-on- 
the-Main,  Bavaria,  August  9,  1853.  He  attended  public  school 
when  he  was  five  years  old,  until  twelve,  and  then  went  to  Latin 
school  until  sixteen.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  eight,  and 
his  father  when  he  was  two.  In  1869  he  learned  the  bookbinder's 
trade  in  Wunsenberg.  He  afterward  lived  in  various  German 
and  Bavarian  cities  and  became  a  Socialist  while  in  Wunsenberg. 
He  came  to  America  in  1879,  and  Chicago  in  the  same  year. 
After  a  sojourn  in  Milwaukee  and  the  West  he  returned  here  in 
1882,  and  went  on  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  as  a  reporter  at  a  salary 
of  $12  per  week.  His  position  was  finally  raised  to  associate 
editor,  and  his  salary  to  $18. 

Louis  Lingg,  the  youngest  of  the  doomed  Anarchists,  is 
only  twenty-one  years  old,  having  been  born  in  Baden,  Germany, 
in  1864.  He  secured  a  common  school  education  in  Germany. 
After  leaving  his  native  country  he  went  to  Switzerland,  where 
he  remained  several  years,  arriving  in  America  in  August,  1885. 
He  is  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  unmarried. 

Adolph  Fischer  is  about  twenty-six  or   twenty-seven    years 


460  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

of  age,  and  has  lived  in  this  country  for  the  last  thirteen  years. 
He  is  a  printer,  and  worked  at  his  trade  while  in  America.  For 
the  last  seven  years  he  has  been  a  compositor  on  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung.     He  is  married,  and  the  father  of  two  children. 

George  Engel  is  a  native  of  Germany,  having  been  born  in 
Kassel,  Hesse,  Germany,  in  1839.  Early  in  January,  1872,  he 
came  to  America,  and  afterward  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  since 
lived,  working  as  a  painter. 

Oscar  W.  Neebe  is  of  German  descent,  but  was  born  in 
New  York  City,  in  1850.  In  1865  he  came  to  Chicago,  where 
he  worked  at  his  trade  of  tinsmith.  In  1870  he  went  to  New 
York,  and  from  there  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  remained  two 
years,  returning  to  Chicago  in  1875.  He  nas  since  resided  with 
his  family  in  this  city. 

THE  JURORS. 

The  twelve  good  men  and  true,  who  sat  in  judgment  for  so 
many  long  and  weary  days,  are  all  Americans  by  birth.  Frank  S. 
Osborne,  foreman  of  the  jury,  is  a  widower  of  thirty-nine,  and 
the  father  of  three  sons.  He  is  head  salesman  of  the  carpet  de- 
partment of  Marshall  Field's  retail  store,  and  came  here  from 
Columbus,  Ohio.      He  is  an  Episcopalian. 

Major  James  H.  Cole,  of  Lawndale,  the  first  juror  accepted 
by  both  sides,  was  born  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  forty-three  years  ago, 
and  served  throughout  the  Rebellion  in  the  Forty-first  Ohio  In- 
fantry. He  came  to  Chicago  from  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  six 
years  ago,  and  though  a  bookkeeper  by  profession,  is  at  present 
out  of  employment. 

J.  H.  Brayton,  principal  of  Webster  School,  lives  at  Engel- 
wood  with  his  family,  although  a  native  of  Lyons,  N.  Y.  He  had 
arranged  a  hunting  and  fishing  excursion  for  the  summer,  which 
the  trial  ruined. 

A.  H.  Reed  is  of  the  firm  of  Reed  &  Sons,  of  Reed's  Tem- 
ple of  Music,  136  State  street.  He  was  born  in  Boston  forty- 
nine  years  ago,  but  has  been  in  the  music  business  here  for  twen- 
ty-three years,  living  with  his  wife  at  3242  Groveland  Park.  Mr. 
Reed  is  a  Freethinker,  but  not  an  Atheist. 

Andrew  Hamilton,  dealer  in  hardware,  has  lived  in  Chicago 
twenty  years  of  the  forty-one  he  has  been  on  earth,  and  now  lives 
with  his  wife  at  1521  Forty-first  street. 

C.  B.  Todd,  forty-seven  years  old,  was  born  in  Elmira,  N. 
Y.,  lived  in  Minnesota  for  sixteen  years  after  the  war,  but  is  now 
a  salesman  in  the  Putnam  Clothing  House.  He  served  in  the 
Sixth  New  York  Heavy  Artillery.  Mr.  Todd  lives  at  1013  West 
Polk  street. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY.  AND  ILLINOIS. 


461 


H.  T.  Sanford  is  but  twenty-four  years  old,  and  is  a  son  of 
the  late  Lawyer  Sanford,  compiler  of  the  Superior  Court  reports 
of  New  York.  For  fifteen  months  past  he  has  been  voucher 
clerk  for  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern,  but  before  coming  to 
Chicago  he  was  a  petroleum  broker  at  New  York.  He  and  his 
wife  live  at  Oak  Park. 

S.  C.  Randall,  the  youngest  man  on  the  jury,  was  born  in 
Erie  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1864,  and  in  the  three  years  he  has 
been  in  Chicago  he  has  been  a  hotel  waiter,  a  milk  peddler,  and  is 
now  a  salesman  for  J.  C.  Vaughan  &  Co.,  seedsmen,  45  LaSalle 
street. 

Theodore  Denker,  shipping  clerk  for  H.  H.  King  &  Co.,  is 
twenty-seven  years  old,  and  lives  at  Woodlawn  Park.  He  has 
lived  in  Chicago  twenty-five  years  and  is  not  married. 

Charles  A.  Ludwig  is  also  twenty-seven  years  old,  single,  and 
is  a  clerk  in  the  wood  mantel  shop  of  Charles  L.  Page  &  Co. 

John  B.  Greiner  is  a  clerk  in  the  freight  department  of  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Road,  and  lives  at  Humboldt  Park.  He 
is  twenty-five  years  old,  and  single. 

G.  W.  Adams,  twenty-seven  years  old,  travels  in  Michigan 
selling  paint  for  a  Clinton  street  firm.  He  is  a  painter  by  trade 
and  lives  with  his  brother  at  Evanston. 

The  following  is  the  official  Police  Department  report  of 
casualties  at  the  Haymarket: 


NAME  OP  OFFICER. 


August  C.  Killer 

Thomas  McIIenry 

John  E.  Doyle .. 

John  A.  King , 

Nicholas  Shannon 

Michael  Sheahan  . . . 

James  Conway 

Patrick  Hartford 

Patrick  Nash 

Arthur  C'onolly 

Louis  Johnson 

M.  M.  Cardin 

Adam  Barber 

Henry  F.  Smith.      ... 

Frank  Tyrell 

James  A.  Brady 

John  Pied 

Geokge  Mulleh 

Patrick  McLaughlin.. 

Frank  Murphy 

Lawrence  Murphy 


Third  Precinct. 


NATURE    OF   WOUNDS,  AND    CIRCUMSTANCES. 


Shell  wound  in  right  side,  and  ball  wound  in  left  side.  Wife  and 
five  children. 

Shell  wound  in  left  knee  and  three  shell  wounds  in  left  hip. 
Single;  has  sister  and  blind  mother  to  support. 

Bullet  wound  in  back  and  calves  of  both  legs;  serious.  Wife  and 
one  child. 

Jaw  bone  fractured  by  shell,  and  two  bullet  wounds  in  right  leg 
below  the  knee ;  serious.    Single. 

Thirteen  shell  wounds  on  right  side  and  five  shell  wounds  on  left 
side,  also  right  foot  and  back;  serious.    Wife  and  3  children. 

Died  May  9.     Single. 

Bullet  wound  in  right  leg.    Single. 

Shell  wound  ri^ht  ankle,  two  toes  on  left  foot  amputated,  bullet 
wound  in  left  side.    Wife  and  four  children. 

Bruise  on  left  shoulder  by  club.     Single. 

Two  shell  wounds  in  left  leg,  bones  slightly  fractured.    Wife. 

Shell  wound  in  left  leg.     Wife  and  four  children. 

Bullet  wound  in  calf  of  both  legs.    Wife  and  two  children. 

Shell  wound  left  leg.  bullet  wound  in  right  heel,  bullet  not  ex- 
tracted.    Wife  and  one  child. 

Bullet  wound  on  right  shoulder;  quite  serious.  Wife  and  two 
children  in  California. 

Bullet  in  right  hip  near  the  spine   bullet  not  removed.     Single. 

Shell  wound  in  left  leg,  slight;  injury  to  toes  left  foot  and  shell 
wound  in  left  thigh.  Wife  and  two  children;  wife  very  sick 
at  County  Hospital. 

Shell  wound  in  left  leg:  bullet  w.  right  knee,  not  removed.  Single. 

Died  May  (i,  at  County  Hospital.     Single. 

Bruised  on  right  side,  leg  and  hip;  slight,     Wife  and  3  children. 

Trampled  on,  three  ribs  broken.     Wife  and  two  children. 

Shell  wounds  left  side  of  neck  and  left  knee;  part  of  left  foot  am- 
putated.    Wife  and  three  children. 


462 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 
POLICE  DEPARTMENT  REPORT— CONTINUED. 


NAME  OF  OFFICER. 


John  J.  Barrett , 
Michael  Madden.. 


Lieutenant  Stanton.. 

Matthias  J.  Degan. 

Thomas  Brophy 

Bernard  Murphy 


Charles  II.  Fink. 
Joseph  Norman. 

Peter  Butterly... 


Alexander  Jameson. 
Michael  Horan •. 


Thomas  Hennessey. 


William  Burns  . . 
Thomas  Redden. 


James  Plunkett 

Charles  W.  Whitney. 
Jacob  Hansen 


Timothy  Sulliv; 
Martin  Cullen  . 


Simon  Klid/io 

Julius  L.  Simonson. 
John  K.  McMahon. . 


Simon  McMahon 

Edward  VV.  Ruel 

Alexander  Halverson. 

Carl  E.  Johnson 

Peter  McCormick 

Christopher  Gaynor.. 

Timothy  Flavin 

Nils  Hansen 


S.  J.  Weineke 

Patrick  McNulty  . . . 

Samuel  Hilgo 
Herman  Krueger... 

Joseph  A.  Gilso 

Edward  Barrett 

Fruman  Steele 

James  T.  Johnson  . 
Benjamin  F.  Snell  . 
James  H.  Willson. . 


Daniel  Hocan 

M.  O'Brien 

Frederick  A.  Andrew 

Jacob  E binder 

John  J.  Kelly 

Patrick  Flavin 


Third  Precinct. 


Central  Detail. 


NATURE  OF  WOUNDS,  AND  CIRCUMSTANCES. 


Died  May  6,  at  County  Hospital:  shot  in  liver.     Wife. 

Shot  in  left  lung,  will  recover;  killed  his  assailant  after  he  was 

shot.    Single, 
Shell  wound  in  right  side,  bullet  wound  in  right  hip,  wounds   in- 
side both  hips,  bullet  wound  in  call  of  leg.    Wife.  ',  children. 
Instantly  killed.     Widower:  father,  mother  and  three  sons. 
Slight  injury  to  left  leg;  reported  for  duty.    Wife. 
Bullet  wound  in  left  thigh,  shell  wound  in  right  side  of   head  and 

on  chin ;  not  dangerous.    Wife. 
Three  shell  wounds  in  left  leg  and  two  wounds  on  right  leg,  and 

slightly  in  thigh;  not  dangerous.    Wife. 
Bullet  passed  through  right  foot,  slight  injury  to  fingers  on  left 

hand.     Wife  and  two  children. 
Bullet  wound  in  right  arm,  shell  wound  in  both  legs,  near  knees. 

Wife  and  one  child. 
Bullet  wound  in  left  leg;  serious.     Wife  and  seven  children. 
Bullet  wound  in  left  thigh,  not  removed,  slight  shell  wound  on  left 

arm.    Single. 
Shell  wound  on  left  thigh;  slight.    Has  crippled  brother  and  two 

sisters  to  support. 
Slitrht  shell  wound  on  left  ankle.    Single. 
Died  May  16,  at  County  Hospital.     Fracture  of  left  leg  below 

knee,  bullet  wound  in  left  cheek,  bullet  wound  in  right  arm. 

Wife  and  two  children. 
Struck  with  club  and  trampled  upon;  on  duty.    Wife. 
Shell  wound  in  left  breast,  shell  not  removed.     Single. 
Right  leg  amputated  above  the  knee.    Three  shell  wounds  on  left 

leg.    Wife  and  one  child. 
Bullet  wound  just  above  left  knee.  Has  four  children  (Widower). 
Right  collar  bone  fractured,  and  slight  injury  to   left  knee;  not 

serious.    Wife  and  five  children. 
Shot  in  calf  of  left  leg;  serious.    Wife  and  three  children. 
Shot  in  arm,  near  shoulder;  very  serious.    W7ife  and  two  children. 
Shell  wound  on  calf  of  left 'eg,  shell  not  found;   ball   wound  left 

leg,  near  knee;  very  serious.    Wife  and  two  children. 
Shot  in  right  arm  and  two  wounds  on  right  leg.  Wite,  five  children. 
Shot  in  right  ankle,  bullet  not  removed;  serious.     Single. 
Shot  in  both  legs,  ball  not  extracted.     Single. 
Shot  in  left  elbow.     Wife  and  two  children. 
Slight  shot  wound  in  left  arm.     Wife. 
Slight  bruise  on  left  knee.     Wife. 

Died  from  wounds,  May  8.     Wife  and  three  children. 
Died  June  14,  at  County  Hospital.  Shot  in  body,  arms  and  legs, 

fingers  paralyzed.    Wife  and  six  children. 
Shot  in  left  side  of  head,  ball  not  found  :  serious.    Wife  and  two 

children. 
Shot  in  right  leg  and   both  hips;  dangerous.    Wife  and  three 

children. 
Shot  in  right  leg;  not  serious.    Single. 
Shot  in  right  knee.     Wife  and  two  children. 
Slightly  injured  in  leg  and  hack.     Wife  and  six  children. 
Shot  in*  right  leg;  quite  serious.    Wife  and  six  children. 
Slightly  wounded  in  back;  not  serious.    Single. 
Right  knee  sprained ;  not  serious.    Wife  and  three  children. 
Shot  in  right  leg;  at  hospital.    Single. 
Seriously  Injured  in  abdomen  by  shell,  and  in  left   hand;  very 

serious.    Wife  and  five  children. 
Shot  in  calf  of  risht  leg  and  in  left  hand.    Wife  and  daughter. 
Shell  wound  in  left  thigh.     Wife  and  two  children. 
Wounded  in  leg;  not  serious.    Married. 
Shell  wound  on  back  of  left  hand.    Wife  and  three  children. 
Slight  wound  by  shell,  left  hand.    Wife  and  three  children. 
Finger  hurt  by  shell.    Married. 


Total  number  of  wounded  officers,  07.      Deaths,  7. 

The  citizens  raised  a  purse  of  nearly  $55,000  to  administer 
to  the  wants  of  the  families  of  the  policemen  who  were  killed 
and  wounded,  and  the  treasury  of  the  Policemen's  Mutual  Aid 
Association  was  materially  benefited. 

STORY  OF  THE  CONSPIRACY. 

The  real  inwardnesss  of  the  Anarchist   conspiracy  and  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  463 

means  employed  to  ferret  it  out  will  not  be  known  until  the  trials 
of  the  big-  batch  of  Anarchists  indicted  for  conspiracy  alone  are 
brought  to  a  close.  Captain  Frank  Schaack,  in  whose  district 
the  headquarters  of  the  Northwest  Group  were  located,  had  but 
six  detectives  to  assist  him  in  the  work  of  unearthing  their  con- 
nections. By  May  7  the  work  had  narrowed  down  to  certain 
quarters,  and  was  progressing  favorably. 

It  was  not  until  the  informer  Thielen  had  disclosed  the  in- 
wardness of  the  conspiracy,  the  "  Ypsilon  ''  call,  and  the  "  Ruhe  " 
signal,  that  the  hard  work  actually  commenced.  Detectives 
Schuttler  and  Loewenstein  and  some  officers  in  uniform  were 
sent  to  two  houses  on  Sedgwick  street,  one  of  which  was  Sel- 
iger's (No.  442),  and  the  other  a  few  doors  off  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  street.  Oppenheimer,  the  escaped  informer,  said 
that  when  the  officers  were  going  toward  Seliger's  he  and  Lingg 
were  standing  on  the  opposite  sidewalk,  and  that  they  discussed 
the  feasibility  of  making  a  rush  for  the  house  and  getting  in  in 
time  to  arm  themselves  and  kill  the  officers  in  case  they  were 
actually  bound  for  Seliger's.  But  the  unconscious  officers  were 
too  quick  in  their  movements  and  got  to  the  house  first.  Then 
Lingg  said  he  would  hide,  and  instructed  Oppenheimer  to  send 
his  trunk  to  No.  71  West  Lake  street  in  case  the  officers  did  not 
take  it  away.  It  was  then  that  Schuttler  and  Loewenstein  found 
the  Lingg-Seliger  arsenal  and  all  the  infernal  machinery  for  bomb 
manufacture.  The  officers  held  possession  of  the  place  until 
everything  was  taken  to  the  station.  Seliger  was  found  at  work 
at  Meyer's  carpenter  shop  the  same  evening,  and  was  lodged  in 
the  East  Chicago  avenue  station.  This  was  the  first  arrest  of 
importance  as  leading  directly  to  the  conspiracy.  That  night 
Thielen  came  to  see  what  his  friend  Seliger  was  arrested  for,  and 
he,  too,  was  put  under  lock  and  key.  It  was  then  that  Lingg 
first  was  heard  of.  Thielen  was  the  first  informer,  but  it  was 
some  days  before  he  willingly  told  anything.  His  talk  the  first 
night,  however,  regarding  Seliger's  lodger,  Lingg,  and  Seliger's 
talk  on  the  same  subject,  led  Schaack  to  believe  that  Lingg  was 
an  important  factor  in  the  case.  Schuttler  and  Loewenstein  then 
bent  all  their  energies  to  Lingg's  capture.  They  traced  him 
first  by  an  express  wagon  he  had  hired  to  deliver  his  tool-chest 
at  Twelfth  and  Clark  streets.  Then  they  traced  him  to  Canal 
street,  and  then  to  the  lumber  district,  frequently  losing  the  trail 
and  then  catching  it  again.  Finally,  on  the  14th  they  located  him 
in  the  little  cottage  on  Ambrose  street,  where  they  arrested  him. 
Lingg  was  an  unconscious  informer.      He  was  defiant ;  he  desired 


464  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

to  conceal  nothing  regarding  himself,  and  in  his  reckless  moods 
he  disclosed  many  things  that  were  valuable.  Then  Thielen 
squealed.  A  host  of  conspirators  were  hunted  down  by  the  six 
detectives  and  arrested.  Assistant  States-Attorney  Furthman, 
whom  Schaack  describes  as  better  than  any  two  detectives  in  the 
city,  interviewed  the  prisoners  daily  and  nightly  in  their  native 
tongue,  and  kept  a  record  of  all  their  statements. 

RUDOLPH  SCHNAUBELT. 

Rudolph  Schnaubelt,  the  man  who  is  believed  to  have 
thrown  the  devastating  dynamite  bomb,  and  who  escaped  after 
being  once  arrested,  was  first  discovered  in  the  Arbeiter  Zcitung 
office  on  Fifth  avenue  the  morning  after  the  Haymarket  riot. 
The  police  raid  was  made  at  about  1 1  o'clock.  Schnaubelt,  who 
was  a  very  tall,  well-built  man,  with  yellowish,  bushy  whiskers, 
stood  behind  the  desk  talking  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Schwab.  This 
woman,  by  the  way,  very  much  resembles  him  in  appearance,  and 
was  the  woman  who  carried  the  red  flag  in  front  of  the  Anar- 
chist procession  the  night  of  the  demonstration  on  the  Board  of 
Trade.      Lieutenant  Shea,  Chief  of  Detectives,  says  : 

"  We  arrested  Fischer  and  the  printers  in  the  office  and  took 
them  to  the  Central.  Schnaubelt  was  not  arrested  then.  The 
next  day  Detectives  Palmer  and  Cosgrove  brought  him  into  the 
Central,  and  I  talked  to  him  for  a  while.  He  could  speak  but 
little  English,  and  was  very  straightforward  in  his  answers.  He 
acknowledged  that  he  was  at  the  Haymarket  meeting,  and  said 
that  when  the  bomb  exploded  he  got  down  from  the  wagon  and 
went  home.  I  asked  him  if  he  was  a  Socialist,  and  he  promptly 
replied  that  he  was.  I  knew  of  no  reason  then  to  hold  Schnau- 
belt. We  had  arrested  about  forty  Socialists  already,  and  had 
no  use  for  the  most  of  them.     We  even  let  Neebe  go  once. 

"  I  heard  the  witness  Gilmer's  story  about  three  days  after 
the  riot.  He  described  a  man  with  bushy  whiskers.  Well,  the 
first  time  I  saw  Schnaubelt  was  when  Palmer  and  Cosgrove 
brought  him  into  the  Central.  He  had  shaved  his  beard  off 
then,  and  of  course  I  did  not  recognize  Schnaubelt  from  Gilmer's 
description.  It  was  perhaps  two  weeks  later  betore  we  discov- 
ered that  Schnaubelt  had  left  town.  Not  until  then  did  we  con- 
nect him  with  the  bomb-thrower  Gilmer  had  described.  I  think 
he  left  town  a  day  or  two  after  we  had  him  in  the  Central  sta- 
tion. With  two  weeks  the  start  of  us  it  was  hard  to  track  him, 
and  we  have  never  found  any  positive  trace  of  his  whereabouts. 
He  may  be  dead  and  he  may  be  in  the  far  West.  The  only 
place  where  he  is  certain  not  to  be  is  in  Chicago." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  465 

THE  GRAND  JURY. 

The  grand  jury  that  indicted  the  Anarchists  was  composed 
of  a  representative  body  of  men.  The  following  is  an  abstract 
of  their  report  in  reference  to  the  Haymarket  massacre  : 

To  the  Hon.  Judge  John  G.  Rogers:  In  presenting  the 
bills  of  indictments  which  we  have  the  honor  herewith  to  submit, 
in  what  are  known  as  the  "Anarchist  cases,"  we  deem  it  proper 
to  accompany  the  same  with  a  few  words  of  explanation.  We 
have  endeavored  in  our  deliberations  and  in  our  findings  to  be 
guided  strictly  by  the  instructions  delivered  to  us  by  the  Court 
in  regard  to  the  liability  of  a  citizen  under  the  law  for  the  abuse 
of  the  privilege  of  free  speech.  We  have  in  this  connection, 
upon  the  evidence  adduced,  found  true  bills  only  against  such 
persons  as  had,  in  their  abuse  of  this  right,  been  more  or  less 
instrumental  in  causing  the  riot  and  bloodshed  at  Haymarket 
square,  the  particulars  of  which  we  were  called  upon  to  inves- 
tigate. We  have  in  some  cases  refused  to  find  bills  for  the  rea- 
son that  persons  against  whom  evidence  was  presented  seemed 
to  be  the  weak  and  ignorant  tools  of  designing  men,  and  that 
it  was  our  belief  should  they  continue  their  evil  associations 
and  practices  after  this  calamity  shall  have  shown  them  to  what 
it  leads,  that  some  future  grand  jury  would  give  their  cases 
proper  attention.  So  far  as  we  are  informed  this  is  the  first 
appearance  of  dynamite  as  a  factor  in  the  criminal  annals  of  this 
state,  and  this  is  also  the  first  organized  conspiracy  for  the 
destruction  of  human  life,  and  the  overthrow  of  law  in  any  part 
of  this  country  that  has  employed  this  new  and  dangerous 
agency.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  fatal  and  appalling  suc- 
cess which  has  attended  this,  its  first  introduction,  should  have 
inspired  terror  in  this  community. 

We  find  that  the  attack  on  the  police  on  May  4  was  the  re- 
sult of  a  deliberate  conspiracy,  the  full  details  of  which  are  now 
in  the  possession  of  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  will  be  brought 
out  when  the  cases  shall  be  reached  in  court.  We  find  that  this 
force  of  disorganizers  had  a  very  perfect  force  of  organizers 
of  its  own,  and  that  it  was  chiefly  under  the  control  of  the 
coterie  of  men  who  were  connected  with  the  publication  of 
their  English  and  German  newspaper  organs,  the  Alarm  and 
Arbeiter  Zeitung.  The  evidence' has  shown  conclusively  to  us 
that  these  men  were  manipulating  this  agitation  from  base  and 
selfish  motives,  for  the  power  and.  influence  which  it  gave  them, 
and  for  the  money  which  they  could  make  out  of  it ;  that  the 
large   majority  of  their  followers  were  simply  their  dupes,  and 

30 


466  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

they  have  collected  in  this  way  large  sums  of  money  from  those 
followers,  and  from  the  working  men  of  this  city.  That  their 
plan  was  to  involve,  so  far  as  they  could,  not  only  the  Socialist 
and  Communist  organizations,  with  whom  they  claim  some  kin- 
dred, but  also  the  labor  societies  and  trades  unions,  to  the  end 
that  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  they  were  creating  they  could 
not  only  rely  upon  them  as  a  source  of  revenue,  but  also  have 
them  to  fall  back  upon  in  the  event  of  their  finally  being  made 
amenable  to  the  law.  Witnesses  have  come  before  us  under 
protest  and  with  fear  and  trembling  lest  their  appearance  before 
this  jury  should  draw  down  upon  them  or  upon  their  families 
the  secret  vengeance  of  this  unknown  enemy.  Branches  of  in- 
dustry in  the  city  have  remained  paralyzed  after  all  causes  of 
disagreement  between  the  employer  and  the  employed  had  been 
adjusted,  by  the  same  fear  inspired  among  the  workmen,  coupled 
with  the  feeling  that  the  law  as  administered  was  impotent  to  af- 
ford protection  to  a  man  ready  and  willing  to  work  for  the  sup- 
port of  his  family.  So  exaggerated  has  been  the  popular  notion 
as  to  the  magnitude  of  this  force  that  politicians  have  cringed 
before  it,  and  political  parties  have  catered  to  its  vote.  Proces- 
sions have  been  tolerated  upon  our  public  streets  carrying  ban- 
ners and  inscriptions  which  were  a  shame  and  a  disgrace  to  our 
city,  and  an  affront  to  every  law-abiding  citizen.  Public  harangues 
have  been  permitted  that  were  an  open  menace  to  law  and  order, 
and  which  in  logical  sequence  have  reached  their  culmination  in 
the  bloody  outrage  known  as  the  Haymarket  massacre.  We  be- 
lieve that  a  proper  enforcement  of  the  law,  as  expounded  by 
your  Honor  in  the  charge  made  to  this  Grand  Jury  at  the  begin- 
ning of  its  session,  would  restore  confidence,  correct  existing 
evils,  preserve  the  peace,  and  protect  this  community  from  the 
recurrence  of  a  like  disorder. 

In  conclusion,  we  desire,  as  citizens  and  as  members  of  this 
Grand  Jury,  in  this  public  way  to  express  our  most  grateful  ac- 
knowledgments of  the  debt  owing  to  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
police  force  of  Chicago.  By  their  heroic  bravery  and  their  con- 
scientiousness and  devotion  to  duty  we  believe  that  they  have 
saved  this  city  from  a  scene  of  bloodshed  and  devastation  equal 
to,  or  perhaps  greater  than  that  witnessed  during  the  Commune 
in  Paris.  We  wish  further,  from  the  evidence  that  has  been 
placed  before  us,  to  express  our  fullest  confidence  that  the  same 
force  that  has  protected  us  by  its  bravery  in  the  face  of  the  ene- 
my, aided  by  the  skill  and  legal  ability  of  our  Prosecuting  Attor- 
ney and   his  assistants,  is  quite  competent   to  hunt  these   public 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  467 

enemies  down,  and  to  bring  them  before  our  courts  of  law  with 
sufficient  evidence  of  guilt  to  insure  what  they  so  richly  deserve. 
Wednesday,  May  19,  there  appeared  before  the  grand  jury 
as  a  witness  one  Krendl,  who  is  in  the  service  of  the  City  Water 
Department.  This  witness,  it  was  said,  testified  that  he  saw  a 
machinist,  whose  name  was  withheld,  talking  with  Spies  and 
Schwab  at  the  Haymarket  the  evening  of  the  tragedy.  The 
witness  watched  the  trio  closely  and  saw  them  go  toward  Halsted 
street  and  then  return  to  the  wagon  so  frequently  referred  to  in 
connection  with  the  massacre.  Upon  their  return  the  witness 
noticed  that  the  machinist  had  something  in  his  right  coat-pocket 
which  filled  it  up  as  an  apple  or  base-ball  might.  His  attention 
was  directed  to  this  fact  because  of  the  persistent  manner  in 
which  the  machinist  kept  guard  over  the  mouth  of  the  pocket 
with  his  hand. 

M.  M.  Thompson  followed  the  above  witness,  and  described 
a  certain  person  who  was  with  Schwab  and  Spies  during  the 
early  part  of  the  evening,  and  this,  in  connection  with  Krendl's 
testimony,  was  considered  important  by  the  jury.  It  was  stated 
at  the  time  that  Krendl  was  able  to  give  the  machinist's  name, 
from  having  once  been  a  Socialist. 

It  was  afterward  discovered  that  Schnaubelt  was  the  machin- 
ist referred  to.  Fred.  P.  Rosbeck,  a  manufacturer  of  light  ma- 
chinery at  No.  224  East  Washington  street,  stated  that  Schnau- 
belt had  been  in  his  employ  about  five  weeks  previous  to  the 
Haymarket  riot.  He  was  a  good  workman,  but  a  pronounced 
Socialist  and  Anarchist,  and  his  rabid  utterances  had  led  many 
others  in  the  shop  to  incline  to  his  views.  Schnaubelt  had  a 
companion,  August  Lambrecht  by  name,  who  came  to  work  for 
Rosbeck  about  the  same  time  he  did.  They  were  very  intimate, 
going  and  coming  together,  and  carrying  on  a  close  relationship. 
Tuesday,  May  4,  Schnaubelt  asked  his  employer  for  the  day, 
saying  he  had  some  important  business  to  attend  to.  He  was 
granted  a  leave  of  absence,  but  returned  to  work  promptly 
Wednesday  morning.  Seeking  to  enlist  him  in  conversation, 
Mr.  Rosbeck  said  : 

"  Rudolph,  they  had  a  big  time  at  the  Haymarket  last  night." 
"Yes,"  said  Schnaubelt,  "a  devil  of  a  time." 
Intending  to  further  draw  him  out,  the  employer  continued  : 
"You  Anarchists  didn't  half  do   your  job,    though.     Why 
didn't  you  use  more  bombs  ?" 

11  Because,"  he  answered,  "they  didn't  get  up  with  them  in 
time." 


468  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

That  evening  Rosbeck  told  this  story  to  a  friend,  who  in- 
formed the  detective,  and  the  arrest  was  made  Thursday  morn- 
ing. Wednesday  Schnaubelt  had  a  heavy  beard  and  moustache. 
At  the  time  of  his  arrest  Thursday  he  had  no  beard  and  his 
moustache  had  been  trimmed  close  to  his  lip.  After  his  release 
by  the  police  Schnaubelt  returned  to  the  shop  and  resumed 
work,  but  that  Thursday  night  he  informed  Rosbeck  that  he 
might  not  return  the  next  day.  He  said  that  he  feared  the 
detectives  might  search  his  house  and  then  arrest  him.  He  said 
Mrs.  Schwab  was  his  sister,  and  he  was  often  at  her  house.  If 
they  searched  Schwab's  house  it  might  lead  to  his  (Schnaubelt's) 
arrest.  He  has  not  been  seen  since  that  Thursday  night.  His 
tools  and  clothes  remained  in  the  shop,  as  also  did  his  unpaid 
wages.  Rosbeck  thought  Lambrecht  had  knowledge  of  his 
friend's  whereabouts.  About  the  middle  of  May  Lambrecht 
informed  Rosbeck  that  Schnaubelt  had  instructed  him  to  draw 
his  salary  and  take  possession  of  his  clothes. 

In  his  evidence  before  the  jury  M.  M.  Thompson  declared 
that  he  saw  either  Spies  or  Schwab — and  he  felt  almost  certain 
it  was  the  latter — hand  Schnaubelt  the  bomb  while  the  trio  were 
about  fifteen  feet  from  the  wagon.  Schnaubelt,  he  said,  was 
in  waiting  for  them  when  they  came  from  Halsted  street.  Krendl 
testified  that  in  his  opinion  Schnaubelt  could  not  have  been 
handed  the  bomb  at  the  place  designated,  because  he  saw  him 
go  to  Halsted  street  with  the  speakers,  and  return.  He  admitted, 
however,  that  Schnaubelt  had  something  in  his  outside  pocket 
when  near  the  wagon. 

Schnaubelt,  when  arrested  by  Detective  Palmer,  admitted 
to  Lieutenant  Shea  that  he  was  with  Schwab  that  Tuesday  night, 
but  insisted  that  he  left  the  wagon  on  which  they  were  standing 
when  it  commenced  to  rain. 

Various  rumors  as  to  Schnaubelt's  whereabouts  were  received. 
A  letter,  said  to  be  in  the  fugitive's  handwriting,  was  received  by 
the  police  some  weeks  after  the  riot,  from  Portland,  Oregon. 
The  writer  poked  fun  at  the  chief  and  said  that  the  fact  that  he 
was  so  far  away  was  due  to  the  stupidity  of  the  detective  force 
and  Lieut.  Shea's  gullibility. 

Subsequently  the  body  of  a  man  was  found  in  the  canal  at 
Erie,  Pa.,  which  in  features  and  in  the  clothes  upon  it  corres- 
ponded to  the  description  of  Schnaubelt,  and  it  was  thought  he 
had  left  Chicago  as  a  stowaway  in  a  vessel  and  had  been  drowned 
in  trying  to  get  ashore  at  Erie  at  night.  The  authorities,  how- 
ever, became  convinced  that  this  was  not  Schnaubelt.     Some  of 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  469 

the  police  have  always  believed  that  Schnaubelt  left  the  city  with 
Parsons  the  night  after  the  bomb  throwing,  and  after  remaining 
in  hiding  with  the  latter  near  Omaha  until  Parsons  decided  to 
appear  and  stand  trial,  continued  his  flight  South  or  West.  Sep- 
tember 15,  1886,  H.  F.  Schaffer,  a  conductor  on  the  Mexican 
Central  Railroad,  on  his  way  to  his  home  in  Ohio,  called  on 
Chief  of  Police  Ebersold  and  informed  him  that  from  a  picture 
of  Schnaubelt  in  the  Police  Nezvs,  he  thought  he  had  identified 
the  fugitive  in  the  person  of  a  jeweler  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  who 
spoke  English  with  a  German  accent.  Mr.  Schaffer  and  a  com- 
panion  visited  the  jeweler  frequently  and  endeavored  to  draw  him 
out  upon  the  subject  of  the  Haymarket  massacre,  but  the  sus- 
pected person  would  not  talk  about  the  Anarchists.  It  is  under- 
stood the  police  took  measures  to  investigate  this  supposed 
clue. 

COST  OF  THE  ANARCHIST  TRIALS. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  trials  of  the  Anarchist  conspirators 
for  connection  with  the  Haymarket  massacre  will  cost  Cook 
county  and  Chicago  about  $100,000.  A  calculation  made  by 
county  officials  at  the  close  of  the  murder  trial  in  August,  placed 
the  average  cost  since  the  night  of  the  bomb  throwing  at  $24,- 
800  per  month.  Another  estimate  itemizes  the  daily  expenses  as 
follows  : 

State's-Attorney's  office,  stenographers,  messengers,    tele- 
grams, interpreters,  extra  legal  help  (Mr.    Ingham)      .  $200 
Sheriff's  office,  bailiff's,  jury  fees,  hotel  bills  for  jury,  etc.    .      150 
Court  costs,  Judge's  salary,  miscellaneous  items  .  .      100 

Detectives,  policemen,  witness  fees  .         .         .         .  150 

Criminal  Court  Clerk's  office  and  other  expenses  .  .  100 
This  makes  a  total  of  $700  a  day,  or  $70,000  for  the  100 
days  which  the  trial  covered.  The  trials  of  the  twenty-six  persons 
indicted  for  conspiracy  in  connection  with  the  murders  will  bring 
the  total  cost  up  to  $100,000. 

In  an  interview  Chief  of  Police  Ebersold  praised  the  brave 
and  steady  action  of  the  police  at  the  Haymarket,  but  for  quick 
and  active  fighting  gave  the  palm  to  the  six  officers  who  held  a 
mob  of  two  or  three  thousand  men  at  bay.  at  the  McCormick 
works  the  day  before  the  Haymarket  affair.  A  mob  tried  to 
hang  Officer  Casey  to  a  lamp-post,  and  he  fought  hand  to 
hand  against  great  odds  until  rescued.  Vaclav  Dejnek,  Frank 
Broda  and  a  young  man  named  Hess  were  indicted  for  this 
affair,  and  Dejnek  was  sentenced  to  serve  one  year  in  state's 
prison. 


470  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

THE    ARBEITER    ZEITUNG. 

The  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  which  was  suppressed  the  morning 
after  the  riot,  was  re-issued  almost  immediately,  and  in  one  issue 
had  the  following  comments  on  the  trial  : 

"  Has  it  come  to  this,  in  the  land  of  Washington,  Franklin 
and  Jefferson?  It  is  the  iron  Must  of  historic  development. 
Only  those  men  who  are  economically  independent  can  be  truly 
free.  Where  there  are  poor  and  rich  political  freedom  is  a 
wretched  lie.  Mammon,  the  powerful  idol,  lowers  freedom  to  a 
kitchen  wench.  As  in  Rome  at  the  time  of  its  decay  Praetorian 
bands  of  foreigners  upheld  the  rule  of  the  Caesars,  so  now  the 
chief  support  of  the  money  kings  is  the  police  force  of  the  large 
American  cities,  which  consists  mainly  of  foreigners.  The  down- 
fall of  the  Republic  is  nigh.  It  will  fall  like  all  countries 
whose  foundations  crumble  away  in  the  course  of  time.  All 
the  weeping  and  wailing  cannot  delay  catastrophe.  The  present 
is  without  hope,  so  we  must  strengthen  ourselves  by  looking  at 
the  future.  A  new  life  will  bloom  from  the  ruins  of  the  present 
social  order.  The  society  of  the  future  will  bridge  over  the 
abysses  which  open  to-day  before  our  eyes.  All  men  will  be 
equal.  They  will  remember  with  a  shudder  the  time  when 
Praetorian  bands  could  plot  the  massacre  of  thousands.  Mam- 
mon will  be  cast  down  from  his  usurped  throne,  and  Freedom 
will  take  the  place  with  conquering  power,  to  dwell  with  happy 
humanity  forever  and  ever." 

After  the  verdict  was  rendered  Mr.  Grinnell,  in  behalf  of 
the  State,  sent  word  to  the  new  publishers  of  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung  that  care  must  be  taken  by  them  that  no  attacks  either 
on  the  jury  or  Judge  Gary  should  appear  in  their  paper,  notify- 
ing them  that  if  any  such  article  should  appear,  the  managers  of 
the  paper  would  be  prosecuted  for  contempt  of  court. 

The  following  was  the  result  of  the  warning  : 

"OUTRAGEOUS! 

"SEVEN  OF  THE  DEFENDANTS  SENTENCED  TO  DEATH,  AND  NEEBE 
GETS  FIFTEEN  YEARS. 

"A  Motion  for  a  New  Trial  Made  ! 
"The  jury,  through  Osborne,  its  foreman,  presented  their 
verdict  to  Judge  Gary  this  morning.  When  the  result  became 
known  the  detectives,  who  mingled  freely  with  the  crowd  on  the 
street,  set  up  a  loud  cheering,  and  the  Judge  became  very  pale — 
he  did  not  expect  such  a  demonstration.  Grinnell,  on  the  other 
hand,  evidently  expected   such   a  verdict,  and  presumably  with 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  47  I 

cause.  Marshall  Field  and  men  of  his  stripe  have  entirely  too 
much  money.  What  do  the  people  say  to  this  verdict  ?  They 
will  look  upon  it  as  being  impossible — incredible.  We  were  not 
inclined  to  believe  it  at  first,  but  we  soon  became  convinced. 
Captain  Black  instantly  made  a  motion  for  a  new  trial,  which 
Grinnell  did  not  oppose,  and  Judge  Gary  will  hear  this  motion 
next  term.  If  he  overrules  the  motion,  an  appeal  will  be  taken. 
We  are  not  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind  to  say  more  to-day." 

The  verdict  of  the  jury  was  unanimously  commended  both 
by  the  American  and  foreign  press,  and  it  was  held  that  if  sen- 
tence were  executed,  a  death-blow  would  be  dealt  Anarchy  in  this 
country.  The  Chicago  Socialists  held  numerous  meetings  to 
raise  money  to  appeal  the  case  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  in 
these  meetings  Dr.  Ernst  Schmidt,  the  Socialist  candidate  for 
Mayor  in  1879,  was  a  prime  mover.  Joseph  Gruenhut  and  other 
Socialist  leaders,  set  to  work  to  organize  a  political  party  to  take 
action  in  the  fall  election,  and  at  a  convention  held  in  the  North 
side  Turner  hall,  Saturday,  September  25,  a  contest  ensued  be- 
tween the  radical  Socialists  and  the  various  reputable  labor  or- 
ganizations, for  control  of  the  convention.  A  test  vote  was 
taken  on  the  election  of  a  chairman,  and  the  Socialists  were 
found  to  control  the  convention  by  a  large  majority,  their 
choice  being  C.  G.  Dixon..  Mrs.  Parsons,  Mrs.  Spies  and  her 
daughter,  Mrs.  W.  P.  Black  and  other  relatives  and  sympathizers 
with  the  condemned  Anarchists,  had  seats  on  the  stage.  The 
convention  adjourned  to  meet  Monday  following  at  Greene- 
baum's  hall,  where  a  full  state  and  county  ticket  was  named, 
composed  in  part  of  Socialists,  laboring  men,  and  members  of 
the  old  parties.  At  this  convention  the  representatives  of  up- 
ward of  twenty  reputable  labor  organizations,  not  in  sympathy 
with  the  Socialists,  were  blacklisted,  and  these  held  a  convention 
at  the  North  side  Turner  hall,  Monday,  October  4,  in  which  the 
action  of  the  Socialists  was  repudiated. 

The  Anarchists  and  Socialists  of  New  York  held  several 
meetings  and  passed  resolutions  of  sympathy  with  their  Chicago 
brethren.  September  22  Mrs.  Black,  wife  of  the  leading  coun- 
sel for  the  defense,  published  a  letter  in  which  she  predicted  an 
immediate  revolution  and  widespread  destruction  of  life  and 
property  if  the  Anarchists  should  be  executed. 

September  27  Capt.  Black  served  notice  of  his  motion  for 
a  new  trial  upon  State's  Attorney  Grinnell.  Accompanying 
the  motion  were  a  number  of  affidavits  in  its  support,  among 
them  being  the  complaint  that  the  verdict  was  contrary  to  the  law 


472  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

and  the  evidence  ;  that  the  Court  erred  in  giving-  instructions 
asked  on  behalf  of  the  people  ;  that  errors  were  committed  in 
the  refusal  of  the  Court  to  give  instructions  asked  on  behalf  of 
the  defendants  ;  that  the  Court  erred  in  admitting  improper, 
incompetent,  irrelevant,  and  immaterial  evidence,  and  in  exclud- 
ing testimony  offered  on  behalf  of  the  defendants,  and  that  the 
verdict  was  not  rendered  by  an  impartial  jury.  They  also 
alleged  misconduct  on  the  part  of  officers  in  the  selection  and 
summoning  of  the  jurors,  and  that  those  summoned  upon  the 
special  venires  were  prejudiced  against  the  defendants.  The 
motion  also  alleged  error  on  the  part  of  the  Court  in  its  rulings 
as  to  the  qualifications  of  jurors  and  their  competency,  and  in 
barring  certain  questions  asked  by  the  defendants'  counsel,  and 
allowing  the  State  more  than  twenty  peremptory  challenges. 
The  motion  also  alleged  error  on  the  part  of  the  Court  in  over- 
ruling the  motion  of  Spies,  Fielden,  Schwab,  and  Neebe  for  a 
separate  trial.  Great  strength  is  placed  in  the  statement  of  an 
Indianapolis  man,  John  Philip  Deleuse,  who,  some  time  ago,  in 
his  saloon,  was  asked  by  a  man  how  the  labor  agitation  was 
progressing  in  his  city ;  that  after  some  conversation  the  man 
remarked  :  "  I  came  from  New  York,  and  I  guess  I  will  go  to 
Chicago  ;  you  will  hear  of  some  trouble  there  very  soon."  And, 
pointing  to  his  satchel,  added  :  "  I  have  something  here  that 
will  work  ;  you  will  hear  of  it."  Deleuse  says  the  appearance  of 
the  satchel  indicated  that  its  contents  were  heavy.  A  few  days 
afterward  he  heard  of  the  Haymarket  bomb-throwing,  when  he 
concluded  that  the  man  who  acted  so  strangely  a  couple  of  days 
previous  had  something  to  do  with  it.  The  affidavit  of  Deleuse 
is  corroborated  by  J.  L.  Biller,  a  prominent  commission  mer- 
chant of  Indianapolis,  and  Oscar  Sputh,  a  gymnast  of  the  same 
place.  The  affidavit  is  also  accompanied  with  the  attests  of  C. 
B.  Feibleman,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  before  whom  the  affidavit 
was  sworn,  and  by  Moses  G.  McLain,  the  County  Clerk,  to  certify 
that  Feibleman  is  a  legal  justice  of  the  peace.  This  is  the  prin- 
cipal affidavit  in  support  of  the  motion,  and  very  little  considera- 
tion is  made  of  them  by  the  State's  Attorney.  The  affidavit  of 
Thomas  J.  Morgan  of  Woodlawn  Park  is  also  presented  to  sup- 
port the  charge  that  from  the  utterances  of  juror  Theodore  E.  Den- 
ker  he  was  so  prejudiced  as  to  be  unable  to  render  a  fair  verdict. 
Morgan  says  that  he  was  on  May  6  conversing  with  Denker 
upon  the  Woodlawn  Park  depot  platform,  and  that  upon  being 
shown  a  portrait  in  a  paper  of  Spies  he  said  :  "  It  don't  make 
any  difference  whether  it  looks  like  him  or  not,  he  and  the  whole 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  473 

crowd   ought  to  be   hung."     Thomas  S.  Morgan,  a  son  of 

the  affiant,  makes  affidavit  that  he  remembers  the  incident,  and 
corroborates  his  father's  statement  as  to  Denker's  utterance 
upon  seeing  the  picture  of  Spies.  John  Sovell  also  makes  affi- 
davit that  Scott  G.  Randall  gave  utterance  to  remarks  in  sub- 
stance that  all  of  the  eight  Anarchists  ought  to  be  hung.  This 
is  alleged  to  have  been  on  a  Sunday  morning  soon  after  the 
Haymarket  massacre. 

The  motion  for  a  new  trial  was  argued  at  the  October  term 
of  the  Criminal  Court.  Counsel  for  the  Anarchists,  with  the 
view  of  being  prepared  for  argument  before  the  Supreme  Court, 
had  the  record  written  up  of  the  question  put  to  certain  of  those 
called  to  serve  on  the  jury,  but  it  was  only  a  partial  record,  made 
up  of  points  favorable  to  the  defense.  To  offset  this,  State's 
Attorney  Grinnell  decided  to  present  the  record  complete,  and 
under  his  instructions  official  stenographer  James  M.  Purcell 
with  six  assistants  wrote  up  the  questions  put  to  and  the  answers 
of  the  1,191  men  who  were  called  to  serve  as  jurors  before  the 
desired  twelve  were  secured.  This  work  required  six  weeks,  and 
comprised  more  than  5,000  type  writer  pages,  of  300  words  to 
the  page. 

On  Friday,  October  1,  Capt.  Black  and  Messrs.  Salomon  & 
Zeisler  began  their  arguments  for  a  new  trial  for  the  condemned, 
They  endeavored  to  strengthen  their  cause  by  submitting  a 
number  of  affidavits  impeaching  the  character  of  the  witnesses 
for  the  prosecution.  The  most  important  of  these  were  those 
of  A.  P.  Love,  of  LaGrange,  and  Orrin  Blossom,  2961  Went- 
worth  avenue,  who  made  affidavits  to  the  effect  that  on  the  night 
of  the  Haymarket  massacre  they  were  in  a  saloon  at  the  corner 
of  Halsted  and  Van  Buren  streets,  with  Harry  L.  Gilmer  for 
some  time  before  the  hour  the  explosion  took  place,  and  that  the 
party  remained  there  long  after  the  bomb  exploded.  This  was 
to  impeach  Gilmer's  testimony.  He  swore  he  saw  Schnaubelt 
throw  the  bomb,  and  testified  Spies  was  present  in  the  alley  at 
the  time. 

State's  Attorney  Grinnell  had  a  bombshell  ready  for  the 
defense.  He  produced  counter  affidavits  from  A.  T.  Love  and 
Orrin  Blossom.  Love  swore  that  he  was  not  in  company  with 
Orrin  Blossom  on  the  night  of  the  Haymarket  massacre  ;  that 
he  was  not  in  the  city  after  six  o'clock  that  night,  and  that  he 
never  saw  Gilmer.  He  signed  the  affidavit  read  in  court,  but 
did  not  swear  to  it. 

His  reason  for  doing  this  was  that  he  was  promised  money, 


474  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

and  he  received  it.  He  said  that  one  evening  after  the  affida- 
vit was  made  one  Lewis  L.  Smith  was  given  a  check  for  $91  in 
Mr.  Zeisler's  office  ;  that  this  money  was  obtained  at  the  Inter- 
national bank  ;  that  the  affiant  was  paid  $30  ;  that  Blossom  was 
paid  $30,  and  that  $30  was  kept  by  Smith,  and  the  remaining  $1 
was  spent  for  cigars. 

Blossom's  affidavit  was  to  the  same  effect.  He  was  not  in 
company  with  Love  that  night ;  he  did  not  know  Gilmer,  and 
was  induced  to  sign  the  affidavit  on  the  promise  of  money. 
Blossom  in  his  affidavit  acknowledged  having  received  $30  from 
Smith,  that  the  latter  kept  $30  himself,  and  that  the  other  $30 
was  paid  Love. 

Mr.  Zeisler,  speaking  of  the  check  for  $91  paid  to  Lewis 
Smith,  maintained  that  the  money  was  paid  to  him  for  his  ser- 
vices as  a  detective  looking  up  Gilmer's  actions.  Mr.  Zeisler 
said  he  did  not  know  what  Smith  did  with  the  money  ;  that  was 
not  his  business.  If  Love  and  Blossom  were  out  any  time  for 
their  services  it  was  only  proper  that  they  should  be  paid.  He 
said  that  the  defense  had  nothing  to  hide  or  conceal,  and  that 
the  money  was  paid  to  Smith  in  a  legitimate  way. 

THE    MOTION  FOR  A  NEW  TRIAL  OVERRULED. 

The  arguments  for  a  new  trial  occupied  three  days,  and  on 
Thursday,  October  7,  Judge  Gary  rendered  his  decision.  The 
decision  overruled  the  motion  for  a  new  trial  and  was  a  remarka- 
bly clear  and  terse  statement  of  the  essential  points  in  the  case, 
generally  acknowledged  to  be  divested  of  every  trace  of  preju- 
dice, and  including  a  complete  analysis  of  the  evidence,  and  fair 
and  reasonable  deductions  therefrom.     Judge  Gary  said  : 

In  passing  upon  this  motion  for  a  new  trial  the  case  is  so 
voluminous,  there  is  such  a  mass  of  evidence,  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble, within  anything  like  reasonable  limits,  to  give  a  synopsis 
or  epitome.  I  do  not  understand  that  either  upon  the  trial  be- 
fore the  jury  or  upon  the  arguments  of  this  motion  before  me  there 
have  been  any  arguments  tending  or  intended  to  deny  that  all  of 
the  defendants,  except  Neebe,  were  parties  to  whatever  purpose 
or  object  there  was  in  view — that  the  other  seven  were  combined 
for  some  purpose.  I,  of  course,  do  not  wish  to  attribute  to  the 
defendants1  counsel  any  admissions  which  they  have  not  made, 
but  my  impression  is  that  there  has  been  no  argument  tending  or 
intending  to  deny  that  all  the  other  seven,  except  Neebe,  were 
engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  some  object.  What  it  is  the  counsel 
have  debated  before  the  jury  and  before  me.  Now,  it  is  impor- 
tant to  know  what  that  object  was,  whether  it  was  as  counsel  for 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  475 

defense  have  stated — merely  to  encourage  working  men  to  re- 
sist, if  unlawful  attacks  were  made  upon  them — or  whether  it  was 
something  else.  There  is  no  better  way  to  ascertain  what  the 
object  was  than  to  read  what  they  have  spoken  and  written  as 
the  object,  while  the  events  were  transpiring.  Now,  from  the 
files  of  their  newspapers,  which  go  back  a  good  way,  a  good  deal  can 
be  taken,  which  must  of  necessity  be  taken  as  the  truth  of  what 
their  object  was.  I  have  not  had  time  and  opportunity  to  arrange 
either  the  translations  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  or  the  files  of  the 
Alarm,  and  pick  out  those  which  in  the  fullest  shape  show  what 
they  were  proposing  to  do.  These  translations  from  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung  now  come  to  my  hands  for  the  first  time.  I  have  here 
a  translation  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitimg,  January  n,  1885,  headed 
"To  Arms.1' 

The  Court  proceeded  to  read  numerous  and  lengthy  extracts 
from  translations  offered  in  evidence  of  articles  in  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung,  in  which  revolution  by  force  was  advised,  and  the  ap- 
proaching revolution,  it  was  declared,  would  be  greater  than 
that  of  the  last  century.  Among  the  extracts  read  were  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"Dynamite  !     Of  all  stuff,  this  is  the  stuff." 

"The  day  draws  near  when  the  working  people  erf  America, 
in  an  outburst  of  passion  and  ungovernable  rage,  will  revolt  and 
demand  the  total  abolition  of  the  existing  state  of  things  which 
brings  to  the  working  classes  so  much  misery  and  death.  Have 
you  all  prepared  yourselves  with  knives,  pistols,  guns  and  dy- 
namite for  the  unavoidable  conflict  between  labor  and  capital  ?" 

"It  was  decided  at  the  last  mass-meeting  at  No.  54  West 
Lake  street  that  the  next  meeting  will  be  devoted  to  the 
consideration  of  the  military  laws  and  necessity  of  using  force 
in  the  warfare  between  capital  and  labor." 

"Each  working  man  ought  to  have  been  armed  long  ago. 
Daggers,  revolvers  and  explosives  are  cheap,  and  can  be  easily 
obtained." 

"Those  who  want  to  talk  to  capitalists  in  earnest  must  be 
prepared  to  attain  their  object  by  killing  them.  This  can  only 
be  accomplished  by  systematic  organization.  The  time  for  all 
this  is  short — look  out — " 

"  In  addition  to  all  this,"  continued  Judge  Gary,  "there  is 
the  testimony  of  witnesses  that  there  was  a  combination  which 
was  formed  as  early  as  1884,  and  that  combination  had  for  its 
purpose  the  changing  of  the  existing  order  of  things,  the  over- 
throw of  government,  and  the  abolition  of  all  law.     There  can 


476  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

be  no  question  in  the  mind  of  any  one  who  has  read  these  arti- 
cles or  heard  these  speeches,  which  were  written  and  spoken 
long  before  the  eight-hour  movement  was  talked  of,  that  this 
movement  which  they  advocated  was  but  a  means  in  their  esti- 
mation toward  the  ends  which  they  sought,  and  that  the  move- 
ment itself  was  not  primarily  any  consideration  with  them  at  all. 
The  different  papers  and  speeches  furnish  direct  contradiction  to 
the  arguments  of  counsel  that  they  proposed  to  resort  to  arms 
merely  to  resist  any  unlawful  attacks  which  the  police  might 
make  upon  them,  because  these  all  show  that  their  object  was 
this  :  If  during  the  eight-hour  movement  strikes  occurred,  and 
if  the  employers  chose  to  employ  other  men  in  the  place  of 
those  who  had  struck,  then  these  men  so  employed  must  be  pre- 
vented by  force  from  going  to  work,  and  if  the  police  then  un- 
dertook to  resist  the  force  so  employed  on  behalf  of  the  strikers, 
if  the  police  undertook  to  prevent  this  force  from  being  so  em- 
ployed, that  that  was  the  ground  which  it  was  expected  the 
police  would  furnish  for  the  exercise  of  these  arms  and  these 
explosives,  and  that  was  the  ground  on  which  the  police  force 
was  to  be  destroyed.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  that  was  an 
unlawful  combination.  It  is  impossible  to  argue  that  any  set  of 
men  have  the  right  to  dictate  to  others  whether  they  should 
work  or  not,  and  if  they  chose  to  work  in  defiance  of  their  dicta- 
tion, drive  them  away  by  force,  and  if  the  police  undertook  to 
prevent  that  force,  then  kill  the  police.  It  is  impossible  for  an 
instant  to  support  any  such  principle  as  that.  The  members  of 
this  combination  publicly  announced  that  they  had  no  hope  of 
winning  the  majority  over  to  their  side  by  argument,  and  no 
hope  of  attaining  their  object  by  getting  rid  of  this  majority  by 
violence.  There  is  no  doubt  that  seven  of  the  defendants  were 
in  the  combination  formed  for  that  purpose.  As  to  Neebe's 
part,  there  is  the  evidence  of  witnesses  that  he  presided  at  meet- 
ings called  by  the  class  of  people  from  whom  this  combination 
was  drawn,  and  that  he  called  meetings  of  the  people  who  were 
engaged  in  the  movement.  There  is  evidence  that  he  marched 
in  the  Board  of  Trade  procession,  the  object  of  which  was  said 
to  be  the  demolition  of  that  building." 

The  Court  proceeded  to  discuss  all  the  evidence  against 
Neebe,  which  tended  to  show  that  he  was  associated  with  the 
rest  of  the  defendants  in  the  encouragement  of  the  movement 
which  had  for  its  object  the  destruction  of  the  government. 
The  Court  resumed  : 

"  On  the  question  of  the  instructions  whether  these  defend- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND   ILLINOIS.  477 

ants,  or  any  of  them,  did  anticipate  or  expect  the  throwing  of 
the  bomb  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  May,  is  not  a  question  which 
I  need  to  consider,  because  the  instructions  did  not  go  upon  that 
ground.  The  jury  were  not  instructed  to  find  them  guilty  if 
they  believed  that  they  participated  in  the  throwing  of  the  bomb, 
or  encouraged  or  advised  the  throwing  of  that  bomb,  or  had 
knowledge  that  it  was  to  be  thrown,  or  anything  of  that  sort. 
The  conviction  has  not  gone  upon  the  ground  that  they  did 
have  any  actual  participation  in  the  act  which  caused  the  death 
of  Deegan,  but  upon  the  ground,  under  the  instructions,  that  they 
had  generally  by  speech  and  print  advised  a  large  class  to  com- 
mit murder,  and  had  left  the  occasion,  time  and  place  to  the  in- 
dividual will,  whim  and  caprice  of  the  individuals  so  advised,  and 
that  in  consequence  of  that  advice,  and  in  pursuance  of  it,  and 
influenced  by  it,  somebody  not  known  did  throw  the  bomb  that 
caused  Deegan 's  death. 

"There  is  no  example  in  the  law  books  of  a  case  of  this 
sort.  No  such  occurrence  has  ever  happened  before  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world.  I  suppose  that  in  the  Lord  George  Gordon 
riots  we  might  find  something  like  this.  Lord  George  Gordon 
was  indicted  for  treason,  and  the  government  failed  in  its  proof 
upon  the  trial  as  to  what  he  had  done.  Very  likely  they  did 
not  want  to  prove  it  very  strongly  against  him  ;  I  do  ifot  know  ; 
it  is  none  of  my  business.  If  the  bomb  was  thrown  in  pursuance 
of  the  prisoners'  advice,  the  instruction  as  to  the  law  of  ac- 
cessories before  the  fact  applied  to  the  case,  and  the  instruction 
to  the  jury  was  proper.  If  the  radical  Prohibitionists  should 
make  up  their  minds  that  the  only  way  to  stop  the  liquor  traffic 
was  by  destroying  the  saloons  and  killing  the  saloon-keepers, 
and  if  some  crank  should  blow  up  a  saloon  with  a  bomb  for 
whose  manufacture  these  radicals  had  furnished  specific  direc- 
tions, and  in  the  explosion  a  saloon-keeper  was  killed,  there 
could  be  no  question  but  that  the  radical  temperance  men  were 
guilty  of  murder.  But  there  was  no  question  that  when  some 
one  said  '  Hang  McCormick,'  or  '  Hang  Gould,'  the  reply  was 
given  to  make  no  idle  threats,  but  when  they  got  ready  to  do 
anything,  to  do  it." 

The  shorthand  report  of  the  speeches  of  Spies,  Parsons  and 
Fielden  at  the  Haymarket  meeting  was  then  read,  after  which 
the  Court  said  : 

''  Now,  the  general  advice  throughout  was  to  each  individual 
man — I  mean  the  general  teachings  on  this  subject  of  associated 
revolution — was  to  each  individual  man  to  do  it  himself,  without 


478  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

combination  ;  that  men  working  together  in  deeds  of  violence 
were  to  be  avoided  ;  that  they  were  to  go  alone  where  one  man 
only  was  required  to  accomplish  the  work,  and  where  more  than 
one  man  was  required,  as  few  as  were  necessary  should  be  taken. 
Now,  under  these  circumstances,  in  the  inflamed  state  of  the 
public  mind  at  the  time,  each  of  these  orators  was  still  more  in- 
flaming the  public  mind  when  he  advised  the  people  to  use 
force,  and  some  man — I  do  not  say  identified,  but  unidentified — 
some  man  in  that  crowd,  when  the  police  approached,  with  a 
bomb  of  Lingg's  manufacture,  kills  Deegan  ;  all  who  have  ad- 
vised such  action  are  guilty  of  his  murder.  If  anything  can  be 
proved  by  circumstantial  evidence,  that  is  proved  ;  that  he  threw 
that  bomb  in  consequence  of  the  influence  of  these  teachings, 
this  advice  by  speech  and  printing  over  a  course  of  two  years  ; 
that  the  man  who  threw  that  bomb  had  been  educated  up  to  it 
by  the  teachings  of  these  defendants.  The  case,  as  I  said  before, 
is  unprecedented.  There  is  no  example  of  any  such  crime  hav- 
ing been  committed ;  there  is  no  precedent  of  any  case  like  this 
having  become  the  subject  of  judicial  investigation  ;  but  the 
principle  of  law  is  well  fixed.  It  is  the  boast  of  people  who  pro- 
fess to  admire  the  common  law,  that  it  adapts  itself  to  human 
events,  and  that  no  situation  or  no  new  form  of  industry  can 
arise  but  the  common  law  has  principles  which  may  be  applied." 
The  prisoners  spoke  in  their  own  behalf  before  sentence 
was  passed.  The  court  room  was  crowded  us  usual.  The  police 
department  was  represented  by  Chief  Ebersold,  Capt.  Schaack, 
and  twenty  officers.  The  prisoners  wore  a  look  of  even  greater 
anxiety  than  at  the  morning  session.  Parsons  appeared  particu- 
larly thoughtful  and  gloomy.  The  greater  part  of  the  session  he 
sat  with  his  cheek  resting  in  his  hand  and  taking  less  note  of  the 
proceedings  than  usual.  Spies  was  laboring  under  great  excite- 
ment. Before  he  began  his  speech  Judge  Gary  repeated  the 
caution  he  had  before  given  the  auditors  to  refrain  from  any  dem- 
onstration of  approbation  or  disapprobation  during  the  session. 
He  insisted  that  every  one  in  the  court  should  be  seated,  and 
seeing  two  men  at  the  rear  of  the  room  seated  on  a  table  he  com- 
pelled them  to  take  chairs  or  sit  on  the  floor.  Everything  was 
quiet  as  the  grave  when  Spies  began  his  address.  During  the 
impassioned  passages  he  raised  his  voice  and  indulged  in  violent 
gesticulation.  Neebe's  utterance  was  quite  rapid,  and  he  spoke 
like  one  at  home  before  an  audience.  His  speech  would  have 
produced  an  impression  on  any  jury.  His  voice  is  clear  and  res- 
onant,  and  he  has  a  better  presence  than  any   of  the  other  de- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  479 

fendants.  Fischer  spoke  hesitatingly,  and  would  probably  not 
have  spoken  at  all  but  for  an  uncontrollable  desire  to  express  his 
opinion  of  the  State's  Attorney  and  all  representatives  of  the 
law.  Lingg's  rather  handsome  face  was  flushed,  and  his  eyes 
flashed  as  he  poured  out  his  denunciation  of  Messrs.  Grinnell  and 
Bonfield.  When  he  took  his  seat  his  face  was  covered  with 
perspiration.  He  made  the  walls  ring,  and  as  each  sentence  had 
to  be  translated  by  Prof.  Fick,  he  had  ample  opportunity  to  de- 
liver each  sentence  with  renewed  emphasis.  Schwab  read  his 
speech  in  a  clear,  resonant  voice,  and  it  had  been  evidently 
prepared  with  much  care. 

AUGUST  SPIES. 

"In  addressing  this  Court  I  speak  as  the  representative  of  one 
class  to  the  representative  of  another.  I  will  begin  with  the 
words  uttered  five  hundred  years  ago  on  a  similar  occasion  by 
the  Venetian  Do^e  Faliero,  who,  addressing  the  court,  said: 
'My  defense  is  your  accusation  ;  the  causes  qf  my  alleged  crime, 
your  history.'  I  have  been  indicted  under  the  charge  of  murder 
as  an  accomplice  or  accessory.  Upon  this  indictment  I  have 
been  convicted.  There  was  no  evidence  produced  by  the  State 
to  show  or  even  indicate  that  I  had  any  knowledge  of  the  man 
who  threw  the  bomb,  or  that  I  myself  had  anything.to  do  with 
the  throwing  of  the  missile  unless,  of  course,  you  weigh  the  tes- 
timony of  the  accomplices  of  the  State's  Attorney  and  Bonfield, 
the  testimony  of  Thompson  and  Gilmer,  by  the  price  they  were 
paid  for  it.  If  there  was  no  evidence  to  show  that  I  was  legally 
responsible  for  the  deed,  then  my  conviction  and  the  execution 
of  the  sentence  are  nothing  less  than  a  willful,  malicious 
and  deliberate  murder — as  foul  a  murder  as  may  be 
found  in  the  annals  of  religious,  political,  or  any  other  sort  of 
persecution.  Judicial  murders  have  in  many  cases  been  com- 
mitted where  the  representatives  of  the  state  were  acting  in 
good  faith,  believing  their  victims  to  be  guilty  of  the  charge  or 
accusation.  In  this  case  the  representatives  of  the  state  cannot 
justify  themselves  by  a  similar  excuse,  for  they  themselves  have 
fabricated  most  of  the  testimony  which  was  used  as  a  pretense 
to  convict  us — convict  us  by  a  jury  picked  to  convict  before  this 
Court  and  before  the  public,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  State. 
I  charge  the  State's  Attorney  and  Bonfield  with  a  heinous  con- 
spiracy to  commit  murder. 

"I  will  now  state  a  little  incident  which  will  throw  light  upon 
this  charge.  On  the  evening  on  which  the  praetorian  cohorts  of 
the  Citizens'  association,  the  Bankers'  association,   the   Bar  asso- 


480  •  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ciation,  and  railroad  princes  attacked  the  meeting  of  working- 
men  on  the  Haymarket  with  murderous  intent — on  that  evening 
about  8  o'clock,  I  met  a  young  man,  Legner  by  name.  My 
brother  was  with  me  at  the  same  time,  and  never  left  me  on  that 
evening  until  I  jumped  from  the  wagon  a  few  seconds  before 
the  explosion  came.  Legner  knew  that  I  had  not  seen  Schwab 
that  evening.  He  knew  that  I  had  no  such  conversation  with 
anybody  as  Mr.  Marshall  Field's  protege,Thompson,  has  testified 
to.  He  knew  that  I  did  not  jump  from  the  wagon  and  strike  a 
match  and  hand  it  to  the  man  who  threw  the  bomb.  He  is  not  a 
Socialist.  Why  didn't  we  bring  him  on  the  stand  ?  Because  the 
honorable  representatives  of  the  State,  Grinnell  and  Bonfield, 
spirited  him  away.  These  honorable  gentlemen  knew  every- 
thing about  Legner.  They  knew  that  his  testimony  would  prove 
the  perjury  of  Thompson  and  Gilmer  beyond  any  reasonable 
doubt.  Legner's  name  was  on  the  list  of  witnesses  for  the  state. 
He  was  not  called,  however,  for  obvious  reasons.  First,  as  he 
stated  to  a  number  of  friends,  he  had  been  offered  $500  if  he 
would  leave  the  city,  and  threatened  with  direful  things  if  he 
should  remain  here  and  appear  as  a  witness  for  the  defense.  He 
replied  that  he  could  neither  be  bought  nor  bulldozed  to  serve 
such  a  foul,  damnable,  dastardly  plot.  But  when  we  wanted  Leg- 
ner he  could  not  be  found.  Mr.  Grinnell  said — and  Mr.  Grinnell 
is  an  honorable  man — that  he  himself  had  been  searching  for 
the  young  man,  but  had  not  been  able  to  find  him.  About  three 
weeks  later  I  learned  that  the  very  same  young  man  had  been 
kidnapped  and  taken  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  by  two  of  the  illustrious 
guardians  of  the  law,  two  Chicago  detectives.  Let  Mr.  Grinnell, 
let  the  Citizens'  association,  his  employer,  let  them  answer  for 
themselves,  and  let  the  people — let  the  public— sit  in  judgment 
upon  these  would-be  assassins.  No,  I  reply,  the  Prosecution  has 
not  established  our  legal  guilt,  notwithstanding  the  purchased 
and  perjured  testimony  of  some,  and  notwithstanding  the  origi- 
nality of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial.  And  as  long  as  this  has 
not  been  done,  and  you  pronounce  the  sentence  of  the  appointed 
viligante  committee  acting  as  a  jury,  I  say  that  you,  the  alleged 
servant  and  high  priests  of  the  law,  are  the  real  and  only  law- 
breakers, and  in  this  case  you  go  to  the  extent  of  murder.  It  is 
well  that  the  people  know  this.  And  when  I  speak  of  the  people 
I  do  not  mean  the  few  conspirators  of  Grinnell,  the  noble  patri- 
cians who  are  murderers  of  those  whom  they  please  to  oppress. 
Those  citizens  may  constitute  the  state.  They  may  control  the 
state;    they  may  have  their  Grinnells,    Bonfields,  and  their  hire- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  48  I 

lings.  No,  when  I  speak  of  the  people,  I  speak  of  the  great 
mass  of  working  beasts,  who  unfortunately  are  not  yet  conscious 
of  the  rascalities  that  are  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  the  people 
— in  their  name.  They  condemn  the  murder  of  eight  men 
whose  only  crime  is  that  they  have  dared  to  speak  the  truth. 
This  murder  may  open  the  eyes  of  these  suffering  millions,  may 
wake  them  up  indeed.  I  have  noticed  that  our  conviction  has 
worked  miracles  in  this  direction  already.  The  class  that 
clamors  for  our  lives,  the  good  and  devout  Christians,  have 
attempted  in  every  way,  through  their  newspapers  and  other- 
wise, to  conceal  the  true  and  only  issue  in  this  case,  by  designat- 
ing the  defendants  Anarchists  and  picturing  them  as  a  newly- 
discovered  tribe  or  species  of  cannibals,  by  inventing  shocking 
and  horrifying  stories  of  their  conspiracies. 

"I  believe  with  Buckle,  with  Paine,  with  Jefferson,  with  Emer- 
son, with  Spencer,  and  with  many  other  great  thinkers  of  this 
century,  that  the  state  of  caste  and  classes,  the  state  where  one 
class  dominates  and  lives  upon  the  labor  of  another  class  and 
calls  it  order,  should  be  abolished.  Yes,  I  believe  that  this  bar- 
baric form  of  social  organization,  with  its  legalized  thunder  and 
murder,  is  doomed  to  die  and  make  room  for  free  society — vol- 
unteer associations  if  you  like — universal  brotherhood.  You 
may  pronounce  your  sentence  upon  me,  honorable  judge,  but  let 
the  world  know  that  in  the  year  A.  D.  1886,  in  the  state  of  Illi- 
nois, eight  men  were  sentenced  to  death  because  they  had  not 
lost  their  faith  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  liberty  and  justice. 
Read  the  history  of  Greece  and  Rome  ;  read  that  of  Venice. 
Look  over  the  dark  pages  of  the  church  and  follow  the  thorny 
path  of  science.     No  change  i     No  change  ! 

"You  would  destroy  society  and  civilization,  as  ever,  upon 
the  cry  of  the  ruling  classes.  They  are  so  comfortably  sit- 
uated under  the  prevailing  system  that  they  naturally  abhor 
and  fear  even  the  slightest  changes.  Their  privileges  are  as 
dear  to  them  as  life  itself,  and  every  change  threatens  these 
privileges.  But  civilization  is  a  record  whose  steps  are  monu- 
ments of  such  changes.  Without  these  social  changes,  always 
brought  about  against  the  will  and  against  the  force  of  the  rul- 
ing classes,  there  would  be  no  civilization.  As  to  the  destruction 
of  society,  which  we  have  been  accused  of  seeking,  it  sounds  like 
one  of  Asop's  fables — like  the  cunning  of  the  fox.  We,  who 
have  jeopardized  our  lives  to  save  society  from  the  fiend  that  has 
grasped  her  by  the  throat,  that  seeks  her  life-blood  and  devours 
her  substance  ;  we,   who  would  heal  her   bleeding  wounds,  who 

31 


482  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

would  free  her  from  the  fetters  you  have  wrought  around  her, 
from  the  misery  you  have  brought  upon  her — we  are  enemies. 
We  have  preached  dynamite,  it  is  said,  and  we  have  predicted 
from  the  lessons  history  has  taught  us,  that  the  ruling  class  of 
to-day  would  no  more  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason  than  did  their 
predecessors.  They  would  attempt  by  brute  force  to  stay  the 
march  of  progress.  Was  it  a  lie,  or  was  it  the  truth  that  we  stated  ? 
-*  *  *  I  have  been  a  citizen  of  this  city  fully  as  long  as  Mr. Grin- 
nell,  and  am  probably  as  good  a  citizen  as  Grinnell.  At  least  I 
should  not  wish  to  be  compared  to  him.  Grinnell  has  appealed 
time  and  again,  as  has  been  stated  by  our  attorneys,  to  the  pat- 
riotism of  the  jury.  To  that  I  reply,  and  I  will  simply  use  the 
words  of  an  English  litterateur,  'Patriotism  is  the  last  resort  of 
the  scoundrel.'  My  friends'  agitation  in  behalf  of  the  disin- 
herited and  disfranchised  millions,  and  my  agitation  in  this 
direction,  the  popularization  of  the  economic  teachings  in  favor 
of  the  education  of  wage-workers,  is  declared  to  be  a  conspiracy 
against  society.  The  word  'society'  is  here  wisely  substituted 
for  state,  as  represented  by  the  patricians  of  to-day.  It  has 
always  been  the  opinion  of  the  ruling  classes  that  the  people 
must  be  kept  in  ignorance.  They  lose  their  servility,  modesty, 
and  obedience  to  the  arbitrary  powers  that  be  as  their  intelli- 
gence grows.  The  education  of  a  blacksmith  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago  was  a  criminal  offense.  Why?  Because  the  intelli- 
gent slave  would  throw  off  his  shackles  at  whatever  cost,  my 
Christian  gentlemen.  Why  is  the  education  of  the  working  peo- 
ple to-day  looked  upon  by  a  certain  class  as  treason  against  the 
State  ?  For  the  same  reason  !  The  State,  however,  wisely 
avoided  this  point  in  the  prosecution  of  the  case.  From  their 
testimony  one  would  really  conclude  that  we  had  in  our  speeches 
and  publications  preached  nothing  else  but  destruction  and  dyna- 
mite. *  *  *  You,  gentlemen,  are  the  revolutionists.  You  rebel 
against  the  effects  of  social  conditions  which  have  tossed  you  by 
fortune's  hand  into  a  magnificent  paradise.  Without  inquiring, 
you  imagine  that  no  one  else  has  a  right  in  that  place.  You 
insist  that  you  are  the  chosen  ones,  the  sole  proprietors  of  forces 
that  tossed  you  into  the  paradise.  The  industrial  forces  are  still 
at  work.  They  are  growing  more  active  and  intense  from  day 
to  day.  Their  tendency  is  to  elevate  all  mankind  to  the  same 
level,  to  have  all  humanity  share  in  the  paradise  you  now 
monopolize.  And  you,  in  your  blindness,  think  you  can  stop 
the  tidal-wave  of  civilization  and  human  emancipation  by  placing 
a  few  policemen,  a  few  Gatling  guns,  some  regiments   of    militia 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  483 

on  the  shore.  You  think  you  can  frighten  the  rising  waves  back 
into  their  unfathomable  depths  by  erecting  a  few  gailows  in  the 
perspective.  You,  who  oppose  the  natural  forces  of  things,  you 
are  the  real  revolutionists.  You,  and  you  alone,  are  the  con- 
spirators and  destructionists.'' 

ADOLPH    FISCHER. 

"Your  Honor,  you  asked  me  why  the  sentence  of  death  should 
not  be  passed  upon  me.  I  will  not  talk  much.  I  will  only  say 
a  few  words,  and  that  is  that  I  protest  against  my  being  sentenced 
to  death,  because  I  committed  no  crime.  I  was  tried  here  in  this 
room  for  murder  and  I  was  convicted  for  Anarchy.  I  protest 
against  being  sentenced  to  death,  because  I  have  not  been  found 
guilty  of  murder.  I  have  been  tried  for  murder,  but  I  have  been 
convicted  because  I  am  an  Anarchist.  Although  being  one  of 
the  parties  who  were  at  the  Haymarket  meeting,  I  had  no  more 
to  do  with  the  throwing  of  that  bomb,  I  had  no  more  connection 
with  it  than  State's  Attorney  Grinnell  had  perhaps. 

"As  I  said,  it  is  a  fact,  and  I  do  not  deny  that  I  was  one  of 
the  parties  who  called  at  the  Haymarket  meeting.but  that  meeting 
— (At  this  point  Mr.  Salomon  stepped  up  and  spoke  to  Fischer  in  a 
low  tone,  but  Fischer  waived  him  off  and  said  :  Mr.  Salomon,  be  so 
kind.  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.)  Now,  that  Haymarket 
meeting  was  not  called  for  the  purpose  of  committing  violence 
and  crime.  No  ;  but  the  meeting  was  called  for  the  purpose  of 
protesting  against  the  outrages  and  against  the  crimes  of  the 
police  committed  on  the  day  previous  out  at  McCormick's.  The 
next  day  I  went  to  Wehrer  &  Klein  and  had  twenty-five  thou- 
sand copies  of  the  hand  bills  printed,  and  I  invited  Spies  to  speak 
at  Haymarket  meeting.  It  is  the  fact,  and  I  don't  deny  it,  in  the 
original  of  the  'copy'  I  had  the  line  'Working  men,  arm  !'  and 
I  had  my  reasons,  too,  for  putting  those  lines  in,  because  I  didn't 
want  the  working  men  to  be  shot  down  in  that  meeting  as  on 
other  occasions.  But  as  those  circulars  were  printed  and  brought 
over  to  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office,  my  comrade,  Spies,  saw  one 
of  those  circulars.  I  had  invited  him  to  speak  before  that.  He 
showed  the  circular  and  said  :  'Well,  Fischer,  if  those  circulars 
are  distributed  I  won't  speak.'  And  I  admitted  it  would  be  bet- 
ter to  take  those  lines  out  ;  and  Mr.  Spies  spoke.  And  that  is 
all  I  had  to  do  with  that  meeting.  I  feel  that  I  am  sentenced,  or 
will  be  sentenced  to  death  because  I  am  an  Anarchist,  and  not 
because  I  am  a  murderer,  I  have  never  been  a  murderer.  I 
have  never  committed  any  crime  in  my  life  yet  ;  but  I  know  a 
certain  man  who  is  on  the  way  to  becoming  a  murderer,  an  assassin, 


484  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS. 

and  that  man  is  Grinnell — the  State's  Attorney  Grinnell — be- 
cause lie  brought  men  on  the  witness  stand  whom  he  knew  would 
swear  falsely  ;  .and  I  publicly  denounce  Mr.  Grinnell  as  being  a 
murderer  and  an  assassin  if  I  should  be  executed.  But,  if  the 
ruling  classes  think  that  by  hanging  us,  hanging  a  few  Anarchists, 
they  can  crush  out  Anarchy,  they  will  be  badly  mistaken,  because 
the  Anarchist  loves  his  principles  more  than  his  life.  An  An- 
archist is  always  ready  to  die  for  his  principles." 

MICHAEL    SCHWAB. 

"  It  is  not  much  I  have  to  say,  and  I  would  say  nothing  at  all 
if  keeping  silence  did  not  look  like  a  cowardly  approval  of  what 
has  been  done  here.  To  those,  the  proceedings  of  a  trial  of 
justice  would  be  a  sneer.  Justice  has  not  been  done.  More 
than  that,  could  not  be  done.  If  one  class  is  arraigned  against 
the  other  class  it  is  idle  and  hypocritical  to  talk  about  justice 
and  fairness.  Anarchy  was  on  trial,  as  the  State's  Attorney  put 
it  in  his  closing  speech.  A  doctrine,  an  opinion  hostile  to  brute 
force,  hostile  to  our  present  murderous  system  of  production 
and  distribution.  I  am  condemned  to  die  for  writing  newspaper 
articles  and  making  speeches.  The  State's  Attorney  knows  as 
well  as  I  do  that  the  alleged  conversation  between  Mr.  Spies  and 
me  never  took  place.  He  knows  a  good  deal  more  than  that. 
He  knows  all  the  beautiful  works  of  his  organizer,  Furthmann. 
When  I  was  before  the  Coroner's  jury  two  or  three  witnesses 
swore  very  positively  to  having  seen  me  at  the  Haymarket  when 
Mr.  Parsons  finished  his  speech.  I  suppose  they  wanted  at  that 
time  to  fix  the  bomb-throwing  on  me,  for  the  first  dispatches  to 
Europe  said  that  M.  Schwab  had  thrown  several  bombs  at  the 
police.  Later  on  they  found  that  would  not  do,  and  then  Schnau- 
belt  was  the  man.  Anarchy  was  on  trial.  Little  did  it  matter 
who  the  persons  were  to  be  honored  by  the  Prosecution.   *     *     * 

"As  soon  as  the  word  is  applied  to  us  and  to  our  doctrine  it 
carries  with  it  a  meaning  that  we  Anarchists  see  fit  to  give.  'An- 
archy' is  Greek,  and  means,  verbatim,  that  we  are  not  being 
ruled.  According  to  our  vocabulary  Anarchy  is  a  state  of  society 
in  which  the  only  government  is  reason;  a  state  of  society  in 
which  all  human  beings  do  right  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is 
right,  and  hate  wrong  because  it  is  wrong.  In  such  a  society  no 
compulsion  will  be  necessary.  The  Attorney  of  the  State  was 
wrong  when  he  exclaimed  'Anarchy  is  dead!'  Anarchy  up  to 
the  present  time  existed  only  as  a  doctrine,  and  Grinnell  has  not 
the  power  to  kill  any  doctrine  whatever.  Anarchy,  as  defined  by 
us,  is  called  an  idle  dream,  but  that  dream  was  called  by  God  a 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  485 

divine  blessing.  One  of  the  three  great  German  poets  and  a 
celebrated  German  critic  of  the  last  century  has  also  defined  it. 
If  Anarchy  was  the  thing  the  State's  Attorney  makes  it  out  to  be, 
how  could  it  be  that  such  eminent  scholars  as  Prince  Krapotkine 
should  say  what  he  has  said  about  it?  Anarchy  is  a  dream,  but 
only  in  the  present.  It  will  be  realized,  for  reason  will  grow  in 
spite  of  all  obstacles.  Who  is  the  man  that  has  the  cheek  to  tell 
us  that  human  development  has  already  reached  its  culminating 
point?  I  know  our  ideal  will  not  be  accomplished  this  year  or 
next  year,  but  I  know  it  will  be  accomplished  as  soon  as  possible, 
some  day  in  the  future.  It  is  entirely  wrong  to  use  the  word  An- 
archy as  synonymous  with  violence.  Violence  is  something,  and 
Anarchy  is  another.  In  the  present  state  of  society  violence  is 
used  on  all  sides ;  and  therefore  we  advocated  the  use  of  vio- 
lence against  violence,  but  against  violence  only  as  a  necessary 
means  of  defense.  I  have  never  read  Herr  Most's  book,  simply 
because  I  didn't  find  time  to  read  it;  and  if  I  had  read  it,  what 
of  it?  I  am  an  agnostic,  but  I  like  to  read  the  Bible,  neverthe- 
less. I  have  not  the  slightest  idea  who  threw  the  bomb  at  the 
Haymarket,  and  had  no  knowledge  of  any  conspiracy  to  use  vio- 
lence that  or  any  other  night." 

OSCAR  NEEBE. 

"Your  Honor:  I  have  found  out  during  the  last  few  days 
what  law  is.  Before  I  didn't  know  it.  I  did  not  know  that  I 
was  convicted  because  I  knew  Spies  and  Fielden  and  Parsons.  I 
have  met  these  gentlemen.  I  have  presided  at  a  meeting,  as  the 
evidence  against  me  shows,  in  the  Turner  hall,  to  which  meeting 
your  Honor  was  invited.  The  judges,  the  preachers,  the  news- 
paper men,  and  everybody  was  invited  to  appear  at  that  meeting 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  Anarchism  and  Socialism.  I  was 
at  that  hall.  I  am  well  known  among  the  working  men  of  the 
city,  and  I  was  the  one  elected  chairman  of  that  meeting.  No- 
body appeared  to  speak,  to  discuss  the  question  of  Labor  and 
Anarchism  or  Socialism  with  laboring  men.  No,  they  couldn't 
stand  it.  I  was  chairman  of  that  meeting ;  I  don't  deny  it.  I 
had  the  honor  to  be  marshal  of  a  labor  demonstration  in  this  city, 
and  I  never  saw  as  respectable  a  lot  of  men  as  I  saw  that  day. 

"They  marched  like  soldiers,  and  I  was  proud  that  I  was  mar- 
shal of  those  men.  They  were  the  toilers  and  the  working  men 
of  this  city.  The  men  marched  through  the  city  of  Chicago  to 
protest  against  the  wrongs  of  society,  and  I  was  marshal  of  them. 
If  that  is  a  crime,  I  have  found  out — as  a  born  American — what 
I  am  guilty  of.      I  always  thought  I  had  a  right  to   express  my 


486  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

opinion,  to  be  chairman  of  a  peaceable  meeting,  and  to  be  mar- 
shal of  a  demonstration.  My  friends,  the  labor  agitators,  and 
the  marshals  of  a  demonstration — was  it  a  crime  to  be  marshal 
of  a  demonstration  ?  I  am  convicted  for  that.  I  suppose  Grin- 
nell  thought  after  Oscar  Neebe  was  indicted  for  murder  the  Ar- 
beiter  Zeitung  would  go  clown.  But  it  didn't  happen  that  way. 
And  Mr.  Furthmann,  too — he  is  a  scoundrel,  and  I  can  tell  it  to 
you  to  your  face.  There  is  only  one  man  that  acted  as  a  lawyer, 
and  he  is  Mr.  Ingham,  but  you  three  fellows  have  not. 

"I  established  the  paper  and  issued  it  to  the  working  men  of 
the  city  of  Chicago,  and  inside  of  two  weeks  I  had  enough  money 
from  the  toilers — from  hired  girls,  from  men  who  would  take  the 
last  cent  out  of  their  pocket  to  establish  the  paper — to  buy  a 
press.  I  could  not  publish  the  paper  because  the  honorable  de- 
tectives and  Mr.  Grinnell  followed  us  up,  and  no  printing  house 
would  print  our  paper,  and  we  had  to  have  our  own  press.  We 
published  our  own  paper  after  we  had  a  press,  bought  by  the 
money  of  the  working  men  of  the  city.  That  is  the  crime  I  have 
committed — getting  men  to  try  and  establish  a  working  man's  pa- 
per that  will  stand  to-day,  and  I  am  proud  of  it.  They  have  not  got 
one  press — they  have  got  two  presses  to-day,  and  they  belong  to 
the  working  men  of  this  city.  When  the  first  issue  came  out,  from 
that  day  up  to  the  day  now,  your  Honor,  we  have  gained  4,000 
subscribers.  There  are  the  gentlemen  sitting  over  there  from  the 
Freie  Presse  and  Staats  Zeitung — they  know  it.  The  Germans 
of  this  city  are  condemning  these  actions.  They  would  not  read 
our  paper.  There  is  the  crime  of  the  Germans.  I  say  it  is  a 
verdict  against  Germans,  and  I,  as  an  American,  must  say  that  I 
never  saw  anything  like  that. 

"Them  are  the  crimes  I  have  committed  after  the  4th  of  May. 
Before  the  4th  of  May  I  committed  some  crimes.  I  organized 
trades  unions.  I  was  for  the  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  and 
the  education  of  laboring  men  and  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Arbeiter  Zeitung.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  I  was  con- 
nected with  the  bomb  throwing ;  that  I  was  near  it  or  anything 
of  that  kind.  So  I  am  only  sorry,  your  Honor,  if  you  can  stop  it 
or  help  it,  I  will  ask  you  to  do  it  — that  is,  to  hang  me,  too  ;  and 
I  think  it  is  more  honor  to  die  certainly  than  to  be  killed  by 
inches.  I  have  a  family  and  children,  and  if  they  know  their 
father  is  dead  they  will  bury  him.  They  can  go  to  the  grave 
and  kneel  down  in  front  of  it ;  but  they  can't  go  to  Joliet  and  see 
their  father  convicted  of  a  crime  that  he  hasn't  anything  to  do 
with.  That  is  all  I  have  got  to  say.  Your  Honor,  I  am  sorry  I  do 
not  get  hung  with  the  rest  of  the  men." 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  487 

LOUIS  LINGG. 

[Translated  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Fick.] 
"Court  of  Justice  :  With  the  same  contempt  with  which  I 
have  tried  to  live  humanely  upon  this  American  soil  I  am  now 
granted  the  privilege  to  speak.  If  I  do  take  the  word  I  do  it 
because  injustice  and  indignities  have  been  heaped  upon  me 
right  here.  I  have  been  accused  of  murder.  What  proofs  have 
been  brought  in  support  of  it  ?  It  has  been  proved  that  I 
assisted  some  man  by  the  name  of  Seliger  in  manufacturing 
bombs.  It  has  been  furthermore  stated  that  with  the  assistance 
of  somebody  else  I  have  taken  those  bombs  to  58  Clybourn 
avenue,  but  although  one  of  these  assistants  has  been  produced 
as  a  State  witness  it  has  not  been  shown  that  one  of  these 
bombs  was  taken  to  the  Hay  market.  *  *  *  *  What  is 
Anarchy  ?  *  *  *  The  points  that  we  are  driving  at 
have  been  carefully  withheld  by  the  State.  *  *  *  But 
it  has  not  been  said  that  by  their  superior  force  we  are  driven  to 
our  course.  Contempt  of  court  has  been  charged  against  us.  We 
have  been  treated  as  opponents  of  public  order.  What  is  this 
order  ?  Such  order  as  represented  by  police  and  detectives  ? 
On  the  slightest  occasion  the  representatives  of  this  public  order 
have  forced  themselves  into  our  midst.  The  same  -police  that 
aim  to  give  protection  to  property  embraces  thieves  in  its  ranks. 

*  *  *  I  have  told  Capt.  Schaack  that  I  was  at  a  meeting  of 
carpenters  at  Zephf's  hall  on  May  3.  He  has  stated  that  I 
admitted  to  him  that  I  learned  the  fabrication  of  bombs  from 
Most's  book,  'Science  of  Warfare.'  That  is  perjury.  *  *  * 
It  has  been  proved  that  Grinnell  has  used  Gilmer  for  his  purpose 
intentionally.  There  are  points  which  prove  that.  *  *  *  I 
say  that  these  seven  persons  here,  of  which  I  am  one,  are 
murdered  purposely  by  Grinnell.  *  *  *  Grinnell  has  the 
courage  to  call  me  a  coward,  right  here  in  this  court  of  justice, 
and  Grinnell  is  a  person  who  has  connived  with  miserable  subjects 
to  go  against  me,  to  get  testimony  against  me,  to  kill  me.     *     * 

*  Is  life  worth  living  ?  What  are  their  purposes  in  thus 
murdering  these  men  ?  Low  egotism,  which  finds  its  reward  in 
a  higher  position,  and  which  yields  a  return  of  money.  *  *  * 
But  it  has  been  said  that  the  International  association  of  work- 
ing men  was  in  itself  a  conspiracy,  and  that  I  was  a  member  of 
this  association.  My  colleague,  Spies,  has  already  stated  to  you 
how  we  were  connected.  *  *  *  And  that  is  the  conspiracy 
that  has  been  proved  against  me,  and  for  that  I  am  to  end  my 
life  upon  the  gallows — an  instrument  which  you  consider  a  dis- 


488  TOLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

grace  to  me.  I  declare  here  openly  that  I  do  not  acknowledge 
these  laws,  and  less  so  the  sentence  of  the  Court.  *  *  *  I 
would  not  say  a  word  if  I  was  really  guilty  according  to  this 
foolish  law,  but  even  according  to  these  laws  that  would  not  be 
respected  by  a  schoolboy,  not  even  these  laws  have  been  carried 
out  to  the  full  extent  when  I  was  found  guilty.  *  *  *  You 
smile.  You  perhaps  think  I  will  not  use  bombs  any  more,  but  I 
tell  you  I  die  gladly  upon  the  gallows  in  the  sure  hope  that 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  people  to  whom  I  have  spoken  will 
now  recognize  and  make  use  of  dynamite.  In  this  hope  I 
despise  you,  and  I  despise  your  laws.      Hang  me  for  it." 

GEORGE  ENGEL. 

[Translated  by  Mr.  Gauss.] 

"When  I  left  Germany  in  the  year  1872  it  was  by  reason  of 
my  recognition  of  the  fact  that  I  could  not  so  support  myself  in 
the  future  as  it  was  the  duty  of  a  man  to  do.  I  recognized  that 
I  could  not  make  my  living  in  Germany  because  the  machinery 
and  the  guilds  of  old  no  longer  furnished  me  a  guarantee  to  live. 
I  resolved  to  emigrate  from  Germany  to  the  United  States, 
praised  by  many  so  highly.  When  I  landed  at  Philadelphia,  on 
the  8th  of  January,  1873,  my  heart  and  my  bosom  expanded 
with  the  expectation  of  living  hereafter  in  that  free  country 
which  had  been  so  often  praised  to  me  by  so  many  emigrants, 
and  I  resolved  to  be  a  good  citizen  of  this  country;  and  I  con- 
gratulated myself  on  having  broken  with  Germany,  where  I 
could  have  no  longer  made  my  living,  and  I  think  that  my  past 
will  show  that  that  which  I  resolved  then  I  intended  to  keep 
faithfully.  For  the  first  time  I  stand  before  an  American  court, 
and  at  that  to  be  at  once  condemned  to  death.  And  what  are 
the  causes  that  have  preceded  it,  and  have  brought  me  into 
this  court?  They  are  the  same  things  that  preceded  my  leaving 
Germany,  and  the  same  causes  that  made  me  leave.  I  have 
seen  with  my  own  eyes  that  in  this  free  country,  in  this  richest 
country  of  the  world,  so  to  say,  there  are  existing  proletarians 
who  are  pushed  out  of  the  order  of  society.'' 

After  explaining  how  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing 
order  of  things  led  him  to  become  a  Socialist,  Engel  con- 
tinued: 

"I  resolved  to  study  Socialism  with  all  my  power.  In  the 
year  1S78  I  came  from  Philadelphia  to  Chicago,  and  took 
pains  to  eke  out  my  existence  here  in  Chicago,  and  believed 
that  it  would  be  an  easier  task  to  live  here  than  in  Philadelphia, 
where  I  had  previously  in  vain  exerted  my  powers  to  live.      I 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  489 

found  that  that  also  was  in  vain.  There  was  no  difference  for  a 
proletariat,  whether  he  lived  in  New  York,  or  Philadelphia,  or 
Chicago.  *  *  *  To  make  further  investigations  I  tried  to 
buy,  from  the  money  that  I  and  my  family  earned,  scientific 
books  on  those  questions.  I  bought  the  works  of  Ferdinand 
Lasalle,  Karl  Marx  and  Henry  George.  After  investigating 
these  works  I  recognized  these  reasons  why  a  proletariat  could 
not  exist,  even  in  this  country,  as  free  as  it  is.  I  thought  about 
the  means  by  which  that  could  be  corrected.  They  praised  to 
me  this  country  where  every  man  and  every  working  man  had 
a  right  to  go  to  the  ballot-box  and  choose  his  own  officers. 
I  scarcely  believed  that  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  could 
have  meant  so  honestly  and  well  as  I,  when  I  turned  my  at- 
tention to  politics,  and  took  part  in  them.  But  even  in  this 
regard  of  freedom  of  the  ballot-box  I  found  myself  mistaken. 
I  learned  to  see  that  the  working  man  was  not  free  in  his 
opinion,  that  he  was  not  free  in  vote.  It  was  in  vain  that  the 
Socialistic  party  took  pains  in  former  times,  honest  pains,  to  elect 
honest  officers.  After  a  few  vain  attempts  I  found  that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  a  working  man  to  free  himself  by  means  of  the  ballot-box, 
and  to  secure  those  things  which  were  necessary  for  his  existence. 
*  *  *  In  this  city  corruption  even  entered  the  ranks  of  the  Social 
Democracy.  I  also  obtained  the  conviction  that  through  those 
men  who  put  themselves  over  us  as  leaders,  and  occupied  them- 
selves with  compromises,  this  was  brought  about,  and  then  I  left 
the  ranks  of  the  Social  Democracy  and  gave  myself  over  to  the 
International  which  was  then  organizing;  and  what  these  men 
wanted,  and  what  these  men  through  their  exertions  sought  to 
bring  about  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  conviction  that 
the  freeing  of  the  ruling  classes  could  only  be  brought  about  by 
force,  as  have  all  revolutions  been  throughout  history.  This 
conviction,  before  I  went  over  to  those  people,  was  obtained 
through  study  of  the  history  of  all  lands.  The  history  of  all 
lands  showed  me  that  all  advantages  in  a  political,  in  a  religious, 
in  a  material  direction,  were  always  obtained  only  by  the  use  of 
force  ;  and  If  I  confine  myself  to  the  history  of  this  country 
where  I  am  convicted,  I  take  into  consideration  that  the  first 
immigrants  into  this  country  and  the  first  colonists,  only  freed 
themselves  by  force  from  the  power  of  England.  I  afterward 
obtained  the  conviction  that  the  slavery  existing  in  this  country, 
to  the  shame  of  the  Republic,  could  only  be  put  aside  by  force. 
And  what  does  this  history  teach  us  ?  The  man  that  spoke 
against  existing  slavery  in   this  country   was  hanged,   as  it  is 


490  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

intended  that  we  should  be  hanged,  to-day.  In  the  course  of 
time  I  became  convinced  that  all  those  who  spoke  in  favor  of 
the  ruling  classes  must  hang.  And  what  are  the  reasons  for  it  ? 
This  Republic  does  not  exist  through,  and  its  affairs  are  not  con- 
ducted by,  those  persons  who  come  into  office  by  an  honest 
ballot.  *  *  *  Under  these  conditions  it  is  certainly  not  a 
wonder  that  there  were  men,  noble  men.  noble  scientific  men, 
who  have  tried  to  find  ways  and  means  to  bring  back  humanity 
to  its  original  condition.  And  this  is  the  social  science  to  which 
I  confess  myself  with  joy.  The  State's  Attorney  said  here 
'Anarchism  is  on  trial.'  Anarchism  and  Socialism  are,  according 
to  my  opinion,  as  like  as  one  egg  is  to  another.  Only  the  tactics 
are  different.  Anarchism  has  abandoned  the  ways  pointed  out 
by  Socialism  to  free  mankind,  and  has  resolved  no  longer  to 
bear  the  yoke  of  slavery,  and,  therefore,  I  say  to  the  working 
classes,  do  not  believe  any  longer  in  the  ballot-box  and  in  those 
ways  and  means  that  are  left  open  to  you  ;  but  rather  think 
about  ways  and  means  when  the  time  comes  when  the  burden  of 
the  people  becomes  intolerable.  And  that  is  our  crime.  Because 
we  have  named  to  the  people  the  ways  and  means  by  which  they 
could  free  themselves  in  the  fight  against  Capitalism,  by  reason 
of  that,  Anarchism  is  hated  and  persecuted  in  every  state.  In 
spite  of  that  and  again  in  spite  of  it  Anarchism  will  still  exist, 
and  if  not  in  public  it  will  exist  in  secret,  because  the  powers 
force  it  to  act  in  secret.  If  the  State's  Attorney  declares  or 
thinks  that  after  he  has  hanged  these  seven  men  and  sent  the 
other  one  to  the  penitentiary  for  fifteen  years  he  has  then  killed 
Anarchism,  I  say  that  will  not  be  so.  Only  the  tactics  will  be 
changed,  and  that  will  be  all.  No  power  in  the  world  will  tear 
from  the  working  man  his  knowledge  and  his  skill  or  opportunity 
in  making  bombs.  I  am  convinced  that  Anarchism  cannot  be 
routed  out, — if  that  was  the  case  it  would  have  been  routed  out 
in  other  countries  long  ago — in  the  least  by  your  murdering  the 
Anarchists.  That  evening  when  the  first  bomb  in  this  country 
was  thrown,  I  was  sitting  in  my  room  ;  did  not  know  anything 
about  the  conspiracy  ;  did  not  know  anything  about  that  deed  ; 
did  not  know  anything  about  the  bomb  ;  did  not  know  anything 
about  the  conspiracy  which  the  State's  Attorney  had  brought 
about  here.  *  *  *  Can  you  have  respect  for  a  government 
that  only  gives  rights  to  the  privileged  classes,  but  to  the  working 
men  not  at  all,  although  there  are  conspiracies  in  all  classes  and 
connections  of  the  capitalistic  class.  Although  we  have  only 
recently  experienced  that  the  coal  barons  came  together,  put  up 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  49 1 

the  price  of  coal  arbitrarily  while  they  paid  less  wages  to  their 
working-  men,  and  wherever  those  coal  workers,  those  miners 
have  come  together  to  consider  the  bettering  their  conditions, 
their  demands  have  always  been  very  modest  on  the  whole. 
Then  the  militia  appears  at  once  upon  the  scene  and  helps  those 
people,  while  they  are  feeding  the  miners  with  powder  and  lead. 
For  such  a  government  I  have  no  respect,  and  can  have  no 
respect  in  spite  of  all  their  followers,  in  spite  of  all  their  police, 
in  spite  of  all  their  spies. 

"I  am  not  a  man  who  hates  a  single  capitalist.  I  am  not  the 
man  who  at  all  hates  the  person  of  the  capitalist.  I  hate  the 
system  and  all  privileges,  and  my  greatest  desire  is  that  the 
working  classes  will  at  last  recognize  who  are  their  friends  and 
who  are  their  enemies.  Against  the  condemnation  of  myself  by 
the  capitalistic  influence  I  have  no  word  to  say." 

SAM     FIELDEN. 

Fielden  prefaced  his  plea  by  reciting  a  poem  called  "  Revo- 
lution," written  by  Freilegrath,  a  German  poet: 

"And  tho'  ye  caught  your  noble  prey  within  your  hangman's  sordid  thrall, 
And  tho'  your  captive  was  led  forth  beneath  your  city's  rampart  wall; 
And  tho'  the  grass  lies  o'er  her  green,  where  at  the  morning's  early  red 
The  peasant  girl  brings  funeral  wreaths — 1  tell  you  still — she  is*  not  dead! 

*  *  *  # 

"You  see  me  only  in  your  cells;  ye  see  me  only  in  the  grave; 
Ye  see  me  only  wandering  lone,  beside  the  exile's  sullen  wave — 
Ye  fools!    Do  I  not  live  where  you  have  tried  to  pierce  in  vain? 
Rests  not  a  nook  for  me  to  dwell  in  every  heart  and  every  brain? 
*  *  *  * 

"'Tis  therefore  I  will  be — and  lead  the  peoples  yet  your  hosts  to  meet, 

And  on  your  necks,  your  heads,  your  crowns,  will  plant  my  strong,  resistless 

feet! 
It  is  no  boast — it  is  no  threat — thus  history's  iron  law  decrees — 
The  day  grows  hot,  oh,  Babylon!    'Tis  cool  beneath  thy  willow  trees!" 

Fielden  continued:  "  It  makes  a  great  deal  of  difference, 
perhaps,  what  kind  of  a  revolutionist  a  man  is.  The  men  who 
have  been  on  trial  here  for  Anarchy  have  been  asked  the  ques- 
tion on  the  witness  stand  if  they  were  revolutionists.  It  is  not 
generally  considered  to  be  a  crime  among  intellectual  people  to 
be  a  revolutionist,  but  it  may  be  made  a  crime  if  a  revolutionist 
happens  to  be  poor.  *  *  *  If  I  had  known  that  I  was  being 
tried  for  Anarchy  I  could  have  answered  that  charge.  I  could 
have  justified  it  under  the  constitutional  right  of  every  citizen 
of  this  country,  and  more  than  the  right  which  any  constitution 


492  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

can  give,  the  natural  right  of  the  human  mind  to  draw  its  conclu- 
sion from  whatever  information  it  can  gain,  but  I  had  no  oppor- 
tunities to  show  why  I  was  an  Anarchist.  I  was  told  that  I  was 
to  be  hung  for  being  an  Anarchist,  after  I  had  got  through  de- 
fending myself  on  the  charge  of  murder." 

Fielden  related  that  he  was  born  in  Lancashire;  that  his 
first  speech  was  made  to  starving  operatives  in  the  streets  of  his 
native  town;  that  it  was  here  he  began  to  hate  kings  and  queens; 
his  first  speech  was  in  support  of  the  operatives  of  Lancashire 
as  against  the  sympathizers  with  the  South  in  the  American  re- 
bellion;  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1868  and  was  a  Metho- 
dist exhorter  in  Ohio,  and  came  to  Chicago  in  1869.  Fielden 
detailed  how  he  had  come  to  be  a  Socialist  and  Anarchist;  review- 
ing the  various  speeches  he  had  made  at  meetings  in  Chicago; 
attacking  the  veracity  of  witnesses  who  had  testified  against 
him,  and  declaring  himself  the  victim  of  illegal  prosecution. 
He  continued: 

"From  the  time  I  became  a  Socialist  I  learned  more  and 
more  what  it  was.  I  knew  that  I  had  found  the  right  thing  ; 
that  I  had  found  the  medicine  that  was  calculated  to  cure  the  ills 
of  society.  Having  found  it,  I  believed  it,  and  I  had  a  right  to 
advocate  it,  and  I  did.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
when  it  says  :  'The  right  of  free  speech  shall  not  be  abridged,' 
gives  every  man  the  right  to  speak.  I  have  advocated  the  princi- 
ples of  Socialism  and  social  equality,  and  for  that  and  no  other 
reason  am  I  here,  and  is  sentence  of  death  to  be  pronounced 
upon  me?  What  is  Socialism  ?  Taking  somebody  else's  prop- 
erty? That  is  what  Socialism  is  in  the  common  acceptation  of 
the  term.  No  ;  but  if  I  were  to  answer  it  as  shortly  and  as 
curtly  as  it  is  answered  by  its  enemies,  I  would  say  it  is  prevent- 
ing somebody  else  from  taking  your  property.  But  Socialism  is 
equality.  Socialism  recognizes  the  fact  that  no  man  in  society 
is  responsible  for  what  he  is  ;  that  all  the  ills  that  are  in  society 
are  the  production  of  poverty ;  and  scientific  Socialism  says  that 
you  must  go  to  the  root  of  the  evil.  There  is  no  criminal  statis- 
tician in  the  world  but  will  acknowledge  that  all  the  crime,  when 
traced  to  its  origin,  is  the  product  of  poverty.  *  *  *  If  I 
am  to  be  convicted — hanged  for  telling  the  truth,  the  little  child 
that  kneels  by  its  mother's  side  on  the  West  side  to-day  and 
tells  its  mother  that  he  wants  his  papa  to  come  home,  and  to 
whom  I  had  intended  as  soon  as  its  prattling  tongue  should 
begin  to  talk,  to  teach  that  beautiful  sentiment — that  child  had 
better  never  be  taught  to  read  ;  had  better  never  be  taueht  that 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  493 

sentiment  to  love  truth.  If  they  are  to  be  convicted  of  murder 
because  they  dare  tell  what  they  think  is  the  truth,  then  it  would 
be  better  that  every  one  of  your  schoolhouses  were  reduced  to 
the  ground  and  one  stone  not  left  upon  another.  If  you  teach 
your  children  to  read  they  will  acquire  curiosity  from  what  they 
read.  They  will  think,  and  then  will  search  for  the  meaning  of 
this  and  that.  They  will  arrive  at  conclusions.  And  then  if 
they  love  the  truth,  they  must  tell  to  each  other  what  is  truth  or 
what  they  think  is  the  truth.  That  is  the  sum  of  my  offending. 
*  *  *  The  private  property  system  then,  in  my  opinion,  being 
a  system  that  only  subserves  the  interests  of  a  few,  and  can  only 
subserve  the  interests  of  the  few,  has  no  mercy.  It  cannot  stop 
for  the  consideration  of  such  a  sentiment.  Naturally  it  cannot. 
So  you  ought  not  to  have  mercy  upon  the  private  property  sys- 
tem, because  it  is  well  known  that  there  are  many  people  in  the 
community  with  prejudices  in  their  minds.  They  have  grown  up 
under  certain  social  regulations,  and  they  believe  that  those 
social  regulations  are  right,  just  as  Mr.  Grinnell  believes  that 
everything  in  America  is  right,  because  he  happened  to  be  born 
here.  And  they  have  such  a  prejudice  against  any  one  who 
attacks  those  systems.  Now,  I  say  they  ought  not  to  have  any 
mercy  upon  systems  that  do  not  subserve  their  interests.  They 
ought  not  to  have  any  respect  for  them  that  would  interfere 
with  their  abolishing  them." 

Fielden  maintained  that  the  throwing  of  the  bomb  at  the 
Haymarket  was  a  complete  surprise  to  him  ;  that  he  felt  that  he 
would  be  held  in  some  respect  at  least  responsible,  yet  he 
resolved  not  to  attempt  flight;  continuing:  "I  have  said  here 
that  I  thought  when  the  representatives  of  the  State  had  inquired 
by  means  of  their  policemen  as  to  my  connection  with  it,  I  should 
have  been  released.  And  I  say  now,  in  view  of  all  the  authori- 
ties that  have  been  read  on  the  law  and  accessory,  that  there  is 
nothing  in  evidence  that  has  been  introduced  to  connect  me 
with  that  affair.  *  *  *  The  great  Socialist  who  lived  in  this 
world  nearly  1,900  years  ago,  Jesus  Christ,  has  left  these  words, 
and  there  are  no  grander  words  in  which  the  principles  of  justice 
and  right  are  conveyed  in  any  language.  He  said  :  'Better  that 
ninety-nine  guilty  men  should  go  unpunished  than  that  one  innocent 
map  should  suffer.'  Mr.  Grinnell,  I  should  judge  from  his  state- 
ments here,  is  a  Christian.  I  would  ask  him  to  apply  that  state- 
ment of  the  Great  Teacher  to  the  different  testimony  that  has 
been  given  here,  and  the  direct  contrary  in  other  places  in  the 
investigation  of  this  case.     Your  Honor,  we  claim  that  this  is  a 


494  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS. 

class  verdict.  We  claim  that  the  foulest  criminal  that  could  have 
been  picked  up  in  the  slums  of  any  city  in  Christendom,  or  out- 
side of  it,  would  never  have  been  convicted  on  such  testimony  as 
has  been  brought  in  here  if  he  had  not  been  a  dangerous  man  in 
the  opinion  of  the  privileged  classes.  *  *  *  If  my  life  is  to 
be  taken  for  advocating  the  principles  of  Socialism  and  Anarchy, 
as  I  have  understood  them  and  honestly  believe  them  to  be  in 
the  interests  of  humanity,  I  say  to  you  that  I  gladly  give  it  up  ; 
and  the  price  is  very  small  for  the  result  that  is  gained. 
We  claim  that  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  find  out  in  trying 
to  find  a  cure  for  the  ills  of  society,  we  have  not  found  out  any- 
thing that  has  seemed  to  fit  the  particular  diseases  which  society 
in  our  opinion  is  afflicted  with  to-day  better  than  the  principles 
of  Socialism.  And  your  Honor,  Socialism,  when  it  is  thoroughly 
understood  in  this  community  and  in  the  world,  as  it  is 
by  us,  I  believe  that  the  world,  which  is  generally 
honest,  prejudiced  though  it  may  be,  will  not  be  slow 
to  adopt  its  principles.  And  it  will  be  a  good  time,  a  grand  day 
for  the  world  ;  it  will  be  a  grand  day  for  humanity  ;  it  will  never 
have  taken  a  step  so  far  onward  toward  perfection,  if  it  can 
ever  reach  that  goal,  as  it  will  when  it  adopts  the  principles  of 
Socialism.     *     *  To-day,  as  the  beautiful  autumn  sun  kisses 

with  balmy  breeze  the  cheek  of  every  free  man,  I  stand  here 
never  to  bathe  my  head  in  its  rays  again.  I  have  loved  my 
fellow  men  as  I  have  loved  myself.  I  have  hated  trickery,  dis- 
honesty and  injustice.  The  nineteenth  century  commits  the 
crime  of  killing  its  best  friend.  It  will  live  to  repent  of  it. 
But,  as  I  have  said  before,  if  it  will  do  any  good,  I  freely  give 
myself  up.  I  trust  the  time  will  come  when  there  will  be  a  better 
understanding,  more  intelligence,  and  above  the  mountains  of 
iniquity,  wrong  and  corruption,  I  hope  the  sun  of  righteousness 
and  truth  and  justice  will  come  to  bathe  in  its  balmy  light  an 
emancipated  world.      I  thank  your  Honor  for  your  attention." 

A.   R.   PARSONS. 

Parsons  made  a  speech  addressed  in  the  main  to  working 
men,  starting  out  with  the  recital  of  a  poem  by  George  Heinig, 
entitled  "  Bread  is  Freedom."     He  continued: 

"Your  Honor,  if  there  is  one  distinguishing  characteristic 
which  has  made  itself  prominent  in  the  conduct  of  this  trial  it 
has  been  the  passion,  the  heat,  and  the  anger,  the  violence  both 
to  sentiment  and  to  feeling,  of  everything  connected  with  this 
case.  You  ask  me  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be  pro- 
nounced upon  me,  or,  what  is  tantamount  to  the  same  thing,  you 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  495 

ask  me  why  you  should  give  me  a  new  trial  in  order  that  I  might 
establish  my  innocence  and  the  ends  of  justice  be  subserved. 
I  answer  you,  your  Honor,  and  say  that  this  verdict  is  the 
verdict  of  passion,  born  in  passion,  nurtured  in  passion,  and  is 
the  sum  totality  of  the  organized  passion  of  the  city  of  Chicago. 
For  this  reason  I  ask  your  suspension  of  the  sentence,  and  a  new 
trial.  This  is  one  among  the  many  reasons  which  I  hope  to 
present  to  your  Honor  before  I  conclude.  Now,  your  Honor, 
what  is  passion?  Passion  is  the  suspension  of  reason;  in  a  mob 
upon  the  streets,  in  the  broils  of  the  saloon,  in  the  quarrels  on 
the  sidewalk,  where  men  throw  aside  their  reason  and  resort  to 
feelings  of  exasperation,  we  have  passion.  There  is  a  suspension 
of  the  elements  of  judgment,  of  calmness,  of  discrimination  req- 
uisite to  arrive  at  the  truth  and  the  establishment  of  justice. 
I  hold,  your  Honor,  that  you  can  not  dispute  the  proposition 
that  I  make  that  this  trial  has  been  submerged,  immersed  in  pas- 
sion from  its  inception  to  its  close,  and  even  at  this  hour,  stand- 
ing here  upon  the  scaffold  as  I  do  with  the  hangman  awaiting 
me  with  his  halter,  there  are  those  who  claim  to  represent  public 
sentiment  in  the  city,  and  I  now  speak  of  the  capitalistic  press — 
that  vile  and  infamous  organ  and  monopoly  ot  hired  liars,  the 
people's  oppressors."  Parsons  claimed  to  have  been  for  thirty 
years  identified  with  labor  interests,  and  said:  "And  innvhat  I  say 
upon  this  subject  relating  to  the  labor  movement  or  to  myself 
as  connected  in  this  trial  and  before  this  bar,  I  will  speak  the 
truth,  though  my  tongue  should  be  torn  from  my  mouth  and  my 
throat  cut  from  ear  to  ear,  so  help  me  God."  The  speaker 
then  went  into  statistics,  claiming  that  9,000,000  out  of  the 
12,000,000  voters  in  the  United  States  were  actual  wage 
workers.  He  attacked  the  Citizens'  Association  as  an  or- 
ganization of  millionaires,  and  claimed  that  the  Court  should 
stand  between  the  accused  and  their  persecutors.  "Where,"  he 
asked,  "are  the  ends  of  justice  subserved,  and  where  is  truth 
found  in  hurrying  seven  human  beings  at  the  rate  of  express 
speed  upon  a  fast  train  to  the  scaffold,  and  an  ignominious  death  ? 
Why,  if  your  Honor  please,  the  very  method  of  our  extermina- 
tion, the  deep  damnation  of  its  taking  off,  appeals  to  your 
Honor's  sense  of  justice,  of  rectitude,  and  of  honor.  A  judge 
may  also  be  an  unjust  man.  Such  things  have  been  known.  We 
have  in  our  histories  heard  of  Lord  Jeffreys.  It  need  not  follow 
that  because  a  man  is  a  judge  he  is  also  just.  *  *  *  Now,  I 
hold  that  our  execution,  as  the  matter  stands  just  now,  would  be 
judicial  murder,  and  judicial  murder  is  far  worse  than  lynch  law 


496  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

— far  worse.  But,  your  Honor,  bear  in  mind  please,  this  trial 
was  conducted  by  a  mob,  prosecuted  by  a  mob,  by  the  shrieks  and 
the  howls  of  a  mob,  an  organized  powerful  mob.  The  trial  is 
over.  Now,  your  Honor,  you  sit  here  judicially,  calmly,  quietly, 
and  it  is  now  for  you  to  look  at  this  thing  from  the  standpoint 
of  reason  and  from  common  sense.  *  *  *  Now,  the  money- 
makers, the  business  men,  those  people  who  deal  in  stocks  and 
bonds,  the  speculators  and  employers,  all  that  class  of  men 
known  as  the  money-making  class,  they  have  no  conception  of 
this  labor  question  ;  they  don't  understand  what  it  means.  To 
use  the  street  parlance,  with  many  of  them  it  is  a  difficult  matter 
for  them  to  'catch  onto'  it,  and  they  are  perverse  also;  they  will  have 
no  knowledge  of  it.  They  don't  want  to  know  anything  about 
it,  and  they  won't  hear  anything  about  it,  and  they  propose  to 
club,  lock  up,  and  if  necessary  strangle  those  who  insist  on  their 
hearing  this  question.  Now,  your  Honor,  can  you  deny  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  in  the  world  as  the  labor  question  ?  I  am 
an  Anarchist.  Now  strike  !  But  hear  me  before  you  strike. 
What  is  Socialism,  briefly  stated  ?  It  is  the  right  of  the  toiler 
to  the  free  and  equal  use  of  the  tools  of  production,  and  the 
right  of  the  producers  to  their  product.  That  is  Socialism. 
The  history  of  mankind  is  one  of  growth.  It  has  been  evolution- 
ary and  revolutionary." 

Parsons  went  into  an  explanation  of  the  wage  question  and 
the  relations  of  capital  and  labor,  asserting  that  employers  in 
owning  capital  and  leaving  nothing  to  the  wage  slave  but  the 
price  of  his  work,  had  produced  a  conflict  which  would  intensify 
as  the  power  of  the  privileged  classes  over  the  non-possession  of 
property  classes  increased.  He  continued  :  "We  were  told  by 
the  Prosecution  that  law  is  on  trial  ;  that  government  is 
on  trial.  That  is  what  the  gentlemen  on  the  other 
side  have  stated  to  the  jury.  The  law  is  on  trial,  and 
government  is  on  trial.  Well,  up  to  the  conclusion  of  this  trial 
we,  the  defendants, supposed  that  we  were  indicted  and  being  tried 
for  murder.  Now,  if  the  law  is  on  trial,  and  the  government  is 
on  trial,  who  has  placed  it  upon  trial  ?  And  I  leave  it  to  the 
people  of  America  whether  the  prosecution  in  this  case  have 
made  out  a  case  ;  and  I  charge  it  here  now,  frankly,  that  in 
order  to  bring  about  this  conviction  the  Prosecution,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  State,  the  sworn  officers  of  the  law — those 
whose  duty  it  is  to  the  people  to  obey  the  law  and  preserve 
order — I  charge  upon  them  a  willful,  a  malicious,  a  purposed 
violation  of  every  law  which  guarantees  every   right  to  every 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  497 

American  citizen.  They  have  violated  free  speech.  In  the 
prosecution  of  this  case  they  have  violated  a  free  press.  They 
have  violated  the  right  of  public  assembly.  Yea,  they  have  even 
violated  and  denounced  the  right  of  self-defense.  1  charge  the 
crime  home  to  them.  *  *  *  My  own  deliberate  opinion 
concerning  this  Haymarket  affair  is  that  the  death-dealing  missile 
was  the  work,  the  deliberate  work  of  monopoly — the  act  of  those 
who  themselves  charge  us  with  the  deed.  I  am  not  alone  in  this 
view  of  this  matter.  What  are  the  real  facts  of  that  Haymarket 
tragedy?  Mayor  Harrison  of  Chicago  has  caused  to  be  pub- 
lished his  opinion,  in  which  he  says:  'I  did  not  believe  that  there 
was  any  intention  on  the  part  of  Spies  and  those  men  to  have 
bombs  thrown  at  the  Haymarket.'  He  knows  more  about  this 
thing  than  the  jury  that  sat  in  this  room,  for  he  knows- — 1  sus- 
pect that  the  Mayor  knows — of  some  of  the  methods  by  which 
some  of  this  evidence  and  testimony  might  have  been  manufact- 
ured. I  don't  charge  it,  your  Honor,  but  possibly  he  has  had 
some  intimation  of  it,  and  if  he  has  he  knows  more  about  this 
case  and  the  merits  of  this  case  than  did  the  jury  who  sat  here. 

*  *  *  Before  the  trial  began,  during  its  prosecution,  and 
since  its  close  a  Satanic  press  has  shrieked  and  howled  itself 
wild,  like  ravenous  hyenas,  for  the  blood  of  these  eigjit  working 
men.  Now  this  subsidized  press,  in  the  pay  of  the  monopoly 
and  of  laborers  and  slavers,  commanded  this  Court  and  com- 
manded this  jury  and  this  Prosecution  to  convict  us.  As  a  fitting 
climax  to  this  damnable  conspiracy  against  our  lives  and  liberty, 
what  follows?  O  hide  your  eye  now  !  hide  it  !  hide  it  !  As  a 
fitting  climax  to  this  damnable  conspiracy  against  our  lives  and 
liberty  some  of  Chicago's  millionaires  proposed  to  raise  a  purse 
of  $100,000  and  present  it  to  the  jury  for  their  verdict  of  guilty 
against  us.  This  was  done,  as  everybody  knows,  in  the  last  days 
of  the  trial,  and  since  the  verdict  so  far  as  anybody  knows  to  the 
contrary,  this  blood  money  has  been  paid  over  to  that  jury.     *    * 

*  Condemned  to  death  !  Perhaps  you  think  I  do  not  know 
what  for?  Or  maybe  you  think  the  people  do  not  understand 
your  motives  ?  You  are  mistaken.  I  am  here,  standing  in  this 
spot  awaiting  your  sentence,  because  I  hate  and  loathe  authority 
in  every  form.  I  am  doomed  by  you  to  suffer  an  ignominious 
death  because  I  am  the  outspoken  enemy  of  coercion,  of  privi- 
lege, of  force,  of  authority.  It  is  for  this  you  make  me  suffer. 
Think  you  the  people  are  blind,  are  asleep,  are  indifferent  ?  You 
deceive  yourselves.  I  tell  you,  as  a  man  of  the  people,  and  I 
speak  for  them,  that  your  every  word  and  act  and  thought  are 

32 


498  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

recorded.  You  are  being  weighed  in  the  balance.  The  people 
are  conscious  of  your  power — your  stolen  power.  They  know 
you  ;  that  while  you  masquerade  as  their  servants  you  are  in 
reality  playing  the  role  of  master.  The  people — the  common 
working  people — know  full  well  that  all  your  wealth,  your  ease 
and  splendor,  have  been  stolen  from  them  by  the  exercise  of 
your  authority  in  the  guise  of  law  and  order.  I,  a  working  man, 
stand  here  and  to  your  face,  in  your  stronghold  of  oppression, 
denounce  to  you  your  crimes  against  humanity.  It  is  for  this  I 
die,  but  my  death  will  not  have  been  in  vain.  I  guess  I 
have  finished.  I  don't  know  as  I  have  anything  more  to  say. 
Your  Honor  knows  all  I  know  about  this  case.  I  have  taken 
your  Honor's  time  up  that  I  might  be  able  to  lay  this  thing,  the 
whole  thing,  before  you,  reserving  nothing ;  opening  my  mind 
and  heart,  telling  you  the  truth,  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth. 
I  am  innocent  of  this  offense.  I  had  no  connection  with  that 
Haymarket  tragedy.  I  knew  nothing  of  it.  I  am  not  responsi- 
ble for  it.      I  leave  the  case  in  the  hands  of  your  Honor." 

SENTENCE    PRONOUNCED. 

Parsons  spoke  altogether  nearly  nine  hours,  and  the 
addresses  of  all  the  prisoners  occupied  three  days.  Thousands 
of  people  were  turned  away  during  the  closing  days,  and  the 
scene  in  the  courtroom  when  sentence  was  pronounced  was 
peculiarly  impressive.  At  the  close  of  Parsons'  remarks  Judge 
Gary  delivered  the  following  remarks,  and  pronounced  the  death 
sentence  : 

"  I  am  quite  well  aware  that  what  you  have  said,  although 
addressed  to  me,  has  been  said  to  the  world  ;  yet  nothing  has 
been  said  which  weakens  the  force  of  the  proof  or  the  conclu- 
sions therefrom  upon  which  the  verdict  is  based.  You  are  all 
men  of  intelligence,  and  know  that  if  the  verdict  stands  it  must 
be  executed.  The  reasons  why  it  shall  stand  I  have  already 
sufficiently  stated  in  deciding  the  motion  for  a  new  trial.  1  am 
sorry  beyond  any  power  of  expression  for  your  unhappy  condi- 
tion and  for  the  terrible  events  that  have  brought  it  about.  I 
shall  address  to  you  neither  reproaches  nor  exhortation.  What 
I  shall  say  shall  be  said  in  the  faint  hope  that  a  few  words  from 
a  place  where  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  have  delegated 
the  authority  to  declare  the  penalty  of  a  violation  of  their  laws, 
and  spoken  upon  an  occasion  so  solemn  and  awful  as  this,  may 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  and  be  heeded  by  the  ignorant,  de- 
luded and  misguided  men  who  have  listened  to  your  counsels 
and  followed  your  advice.     I  say  in  the  faint  hope;  for  if  men 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  499 

are  persuaded  that  because  of  business  differences,  whether 
about  labor  or  anything  else,  they  may  destroy  property  and 
assault  and  beat  other  men,  and  kill  the  police,  if  they,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty,  interfere  to  preserve  the  peace,  there  is 
little  ground  to  hope  that  they  will  listen  to  any  warning.  It  is 
not  the  least  among  the  hardships  of  the  peaceable,  frugal  and 
laborious  poor  to  endure  the  tyranny  of  mobs,  who,  with  lawless 
force,  dictate  to  them,  under  penalty  of  peril  to  limb  and  life, 
where,  when  and  upon  what  terms  they  may  earn  a  livelihood 
for  themselves  .and  their  families.  Any  government  that  is 
worthy  of  the  name  will  strenuously  endeavor  to  secure  to  all 
within  its  jurisdiction  freedom  to  follow  the  lawful  avocations 
and  safety  for  their  property  and  their  persons,  while  obeying 
the  law,  and  the  law  is  common  sense  It  holds  each  man  re- 
sponsible for  the  natural  and  probable  consequences  of  his  own 
acts.  It  holds  that  whoever  advises  murder  is  himself  guilty  of 
the  murder  that  is  committed  pursuant  to  his  advice,  and  if  men 
band  together  for  a  forcible  resistance  to  the  execution  of  the 
law  and  advise  murder  as  a  means  of  making  such  resistance 
effectual,  whether  such  advice  be  to  one  man  to  murder  another, 
or  to  a  numerous  class  to  murder  men  of  another  class,  all 
who  are  so  banded  together  are  guilty  of  any  murder  that  is 
committed  in  pursuance  of  such  advice.  The  people  of  this 
country  love  their  institutions,  they  love  their  homes,  they 
love  their  property.  They  will  never  consent  that,  by  violence 
and  murder,  those  institutions  shall  be  broken  downt  their 
homes  despoiled,  and  their  property  destroyed.  And  the  people 
are  strong  enough  to  protect  and  sustain  their  institutions  and 
to  punish  all  offenders  against  their  laws;  and  those  who  threaten 
danger  to  civil  society,  if  the  law  is  enforced,  are  leading  to  de- 
struction whoever  may  attempt  to  execute  such  threats.  The 
existing  order  of  society  can  be  changed  only  by  the  will  of  the 
majority,  Each  man  has  the  full  right  to  entertain  and  advo- 
cate by  speech  and  print  such  opinions  as  suits  himself,  and  the 
great  body  of  the  people  will  usually  care  little  what  he  says. 
But  if  he  proposes  murder  as  a  means  of  enforcing  he  puts  his 
own  life  at  stake.  And  no  clamor  about  free  speech  or  the  evils 
to  be  cured  or  the  wrongs  to  be  redressed,  will  shield  him  from 
the  consequences  of  his  crime.  His  liberty  is  not  a  license  to 
destroy.  The  toleration  that  he  enjoys  he  must  extend  to 
others,  and  not  arrogantly  assume  that  the  great  majority  are 
wrong  and  may  rightfully  be  coerced  by  terror,  or  removed  by 
-dynamite.     It  only  remains  that  for  the  crime  you   have  com- 


5<DO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS. 

mitted,  and  of  which  you  have  been  convicted  after  a  trial  unex- 
ampled in  the  patience  with  which  an  outraged  people  have  ex- 
tended to  you  every  protection  and  privilege  of  the  law  which 
you  derided  and  defied,  that  the  sentence  of  that  law  be  now 
given.  In  form  and  detail  that  sentence  will  appear  upon  the 
records  of  the  Court.  In  substance  and  effect  it  is  that  the  de- 
fendant Neebe  be  imprisoned  in  the  State  Penitentiary  at  Joliet 
at  hard  labor  for  the  term  of  fifteen  years.  And  that  each  of 
the  other  defendants,  between  the  hours  of  ten  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon  and  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  of 
December  next,  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  statute  of  this 
state,  be  hung  by  the  neck  until  he  is  dead.  Remove  the  pris- 
oners.1' 

Stay  of  sentence  in  the  case  of  Neebe  was  granted  until  De- 
cember 3,  the  date  set  for  the  execution  of  the  other  principals; 
and  the  counsel  for  the  condemned  Anarchists  announced  that 
they  should  file  a  bil4  of  exceptions  before  the  Illinois  Supreme 
Court,  and  petition  for  a  supersedeas.  It  is  not  believed  at  this 
writing  that  the  condemned  can  secure  a  new  trial,  or  that  they 
will  be  reprieved. 


J.   E.   GARY. 


Judge  J.  E.  Gary,  of  the  Superior  Court,  who  sat  in  the 
Criminal  Court  during  the  trial  of  the  Anarchists,  was  born  in 
New  York,  and  is  now  sixty-five  years  of  age.  He  came  West 
to  St.  Louis  when  he  was  twenty-two  years  old,  and  read  law 
there  for  two  or  three  years.  He  first  began  to  practice  in 
Springfield,  Mo.,  but  in  1849  ne  moved  to  Las  Vegas,  N.  M. 
From  there  he  went  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  remained  fol- 
lowing his  profession  till  1856,  when  he  came  to  Chicago  and 
opened  an  office  with  Judge  M.  F. Tuley.  Still  later  he  associated 
himself  with  E.  &  A.  Van  Buren,  which  partnership  lasted  till 
1863,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  bench,  a  position  which  he  has 
held  continuously  ever  since.  Judge  Gary  is  highly  respected 
by  both  political  parties,  so  much  so  that  party  lines  are  always 
dropped  when  his  term  expires,  and  he  always  receives  the 
unanimous  nomination  by  both  conventions.  He  is  highly  es- 
teemed by  his  bench  associates,  and  by  the  legal  profession 
generally,  and  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  duty  and  conduct 
of    the    Anarchist   trial    throughout,  won    him    universal    enco- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  50I 

HON.  WALTER  Q.  GRESHAM. 

Walter  O.  Gresham  was  born  in  Harrison  county,  Indiana, 
about  fifty-four  years  ago,  and  has  identified  himself  closely  with 
the  interests  of  his  native  state  ever  since.  He  is  a  splendid 
specimen  of  intellectual  manhood,  and  a  worthy  type  of  West- 
ern civilization.  He  graduated  at  Bloomington  college  and  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  at  Corydon.  In  i860  he  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature  from  that  place.  When  the  war  broke  out  he 
was  a  prominent  figure  among  loyal  Indianians,  and  he  rendered 
efficient  service  in  recruiting  troops  and  facilitating  their  move- 
ment to  the  front.  The  Governor  gave  him  the  Lieutenant-col- 
onelcy of  the  38th  Infantry,  and  he  immediately  went  to  the 
front,  doing  gallant  service  under  Grant  and  Sherman.  He 
afterward  became  Colonel  of  the  53d  Regiment,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  war  was  a  Major-General  by  brevet.  When  he  re- 
turned home  he  went  into  partnership  with  Judge  Butler  and 
declined  several  political  offices  offered  him  by  President  Grant, 
but  accepted  the  place  of  District  Judge  for  the  Northern  district 
of  Indiana.  This  position  he  held  until  called  to  the  head  of 
the  Postoffice  Department  by  President  Arthur.  He  resigned 
this  last  place,  however,  shortly  afterward  and  was  made  United 
States  Circuit  Judge  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  retirement 
of  Judge  Drummond,  at  Chicago.  Judge  Gresham  is  rich  in  schol- 
arly attainments,  and  the  judicial  cast  of  his  mind  eminently  fits 
him  for  high  service  to  his  country  from  the  bench.  His  work 
has  always  been  distinguished  by  signal  ability,  deep  thought, 
and  unswerving  devotion  to  justice.  He  has  frequently  been  men- 
tioned prominently  in  connection  with  the  Republican  nomina- 
tion for  the  Presidency. 


ANTHONY  C.   HESING. 

Anthony  C.  Hesing  was  born  at  Vechta,  Oldenburg,  Prussia, 
but  came  to  this  country  when  a  young  lad.  He  settled  first  in 
Cincinnati,  and  worked  in  a  grocery  store  long  enough  to  save 
a  little  money — sufficient  to  start  him  in  the  same  business  for 
himself.  He  left  Cincinnati  in  1854  and  came  to  Chicago,  where 
he  began  manufacturing  bricks.  In  i860  he  was  elected  Sheriff, 
and  in  1862  he  bought  an  interest  in  the  Staats  Zeitung.  Five 
years  later  he  became  sole  owner  of  the  paper,  but  later  sold  part 
of  his  interest  to  the  other  stockholders.  Mr.  Hesing  has  been 
in  politics  since  he  first  came  to  Chicago,  taking  an  aggressive  in- 
terest in  each  campaign. 


502  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

REDMOND  F.  SHERIDAN. 

Redmond  F.  Sheridan,  the  youngest  member  of  the  City- 
Council  of  1885-6,  is  the  son  of  Redmond  Sheridan,  an  old  and 
highly  esteemed  citizen,  and  Agnes  Sheridan,  who  was  the  moth- 
er, besides,  of  six  sons  and  four  daughters.  Aid.  Sheridan  was 
born  at  his  father's  homestead,  375  West  Taylor  street,  Decem- 
ber 12,  1859.  His  early  days  were  passed  in  attendance  at  the 
Holy  Family  school,  the  Polk  street  public  school,  the  Clarke 
school  and  Dyrenfurth's  college.  His  first  effort  in  his  own  be- 
half was  acting  as  a  messenger  for  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  and  A.  D.  T.  service  during  vacation  time,  when 
he  also  attended  night  school.  He  next  entered  the  office  of 
Schufeldt's  distillery  as  office  boy,  and  in  one  year  was  made 
shipping  clerk,  and  at  the  end  of  two  years  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  freight  department.  Subsequently  the  firm  gave  him  the 
privilege  of  conducting  a  brokerage  business,  and  backed  him  in 
the  enterprise,  which  he  still  successfully  pursues.  In  the  fall 
of  1883,  while  shipping  for  the  firm,  he  was  elected  to  the  Thirty- 
third  General  Assembly  from  the  Fourth  Senatorial  district, 
and  he  served  honorably  and  creditably  as  a  legislator.  Before 
he  had  voted  for  a  President  he  voted  for  John  M.  Palmer  for 
United  States  Senator,  as  against  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  who  re- 
ceived a  majority  of  12  votes.  While  in  the  Legislature  Mr. 
Sheridan  resisted  all  the  influences  that  have  brought  reproach 
upon  many  legislators  of  late  years,  and  he  returned  with  as  hon- 
est and  enviable  a  reputation  as  he  went.  Redmond  Sheridan, 
Sr.,  was  elected  to  the  City  Council  the  year  his  son  was  born, 
and  the  latter  was  elected  from  the  Eighth  ward  the  year  his 
father  died,  the  latter  having  departed  this  life  in  September, 
1885,  after  a  useful  and  honorable  career.  Redmond  Sheridan, 
Sr.,  was  induced  to  become  a  candidate  for  Alderman  in  the  old 
Tenth  ward,  now  the  Eighth,  by  "  Long  John  "  Wentworth, 
who,  although  he  had  served  his  last  term  as  Mayor,  still  took 
an  active  interest  in  city  politics.  After  serving  nine  months 
the  first  Alderman  Sheridan  went  to  the  war,  and  his  chair  was 
draped  with  the  American  flag  for  the  balance  of  his  term.  Up- 
on his  return  he  resumed  the  boot  and  shoe  business,  and  shortly 
after  was  made  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  When  a  deficiency  de- 
veloped in  the  Water  Department  he  was  put  in  charge  to  regu- 
late the  Assessors1  division.  He  was  familiarly  known  as  "  Un- 
cle Red,''  and  his  friends  were  legion,  his  funeral  being  probably 
the  largest  that  ever  went  out  of  the  Eighth  ward.  Redmond 
F.  Sheridan  takes  a  just  pride  in  the  useful  and  honorable  career 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  503 

of  his  father,  and  his  friends  are  gratified  that  his  own  record  is 
no  less  irreproachable.  While  in  the  Legislature  he  originated 
and  introduced  the  Police  Bill,  giving  the  police  power  to  raid 
gambling  houses,  although  a  similar  bill  afterward  preceded  it  on 
the  Senate  calendar.  He  also  introduced  a  bill  for  an  act  to  es- 
tablish a  home  for  waifs,  which  bill  subsequently  became  incor- 
porated in  the  act  for  the  school  at  Fehanville,  which  measure 
Mr.  Sheridan  warmly  advocated.  In  respect  to  measures  of  a 
semi-political  nature  he  was  always  thoroughly  independent,  and 
he  favored  personal  liberty  and  was  opposed  to  high  license,  be- 
lieving it  would'be  a  hardship  upon  heavily  taxed  people.  His 
work  in  the  Council  has  been  untiring  in  the  interest  of  his  con- 
stituency. Every  street  in  the  Eighth  ward  that  was  not  im- 
proved when  he  entered  the  Council  is  now  improved  or  ordered 
improved.  He  also  got  an  appropriation  for  a  bridge  at  Taylor 
street,  and  succeeded  in  having  repealed  the  ordinance  for  the 
widening  of  Jefferson  and  Desplaines  streets,  which,  owing  to  the 
high  assessment,  was  an  unpopular  measure.  He  secured  a  low- 
er assessment,  which  is  now  pending  in  court.  Alderman  Sheri- 
dan married,  February  15,  1886,  Miss  Maria  Butler,  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  John  Butler,  one  of  the  oldest  and  the 
wealthiest  citizen  of  the  Eighth  ward. 


JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

John  A.  Logan,  the  son  of  Dr.  John  Logan,  who  left  Ire- 
land in  1823,  was  born  in  Jackson  county,  111.,  February  9,  1826. 
He  entered  the  Mexican  war  as  a  Lieutenant  of  the  First  Illinois 
Infantry.  In  1848  he  studied  law.  In  1849  ne  was  elected  Clerk 
of  Jackson  county.  In  1851  he  commenced  practicing  law  and 
was  elected  Prosecuting  Attorney  in  the  Third  Judicial  district. 
He  was  soon  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  was  re-elected  three 
times.  In  1856  he  supported  James  Buchanan,  and  in  1S60 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The  Democrats  elected  and  re-elected 
him  a  Member  of  Congress.  His  war  record  is  familiar  to  every- 
body. In  1866  he  waselected  to  Coagress  at  large  from  Illinois, 
and  in  the  Forty-First  Congress  he  first  made  his  mark.  In  1870 
he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  again  in  1879. 
He  was  prominent  in  opposing  the  restoration  of  Fitz  John  Por- 
ter to  the  army.  He  was  nominated  for  Vice-President  by  the  Re- 
publican Convention  of  1884,  and  in  1885  was  re-elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate  by  the  Illinois  Legislature,  and  at  once  be- 
came recognized  as  a  leading  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1888. 


504 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


RICHARD  MORTON  OLIVER. 


Richard  M.  Oliver,  County  Commissioner  from  the  City 
Commissioners'  district,  was  born  February  28,  1837,  in  Darke 
county,  Ohio,  being  the  fourth  son  of  Samuel  Oliver  and  Hettie 
(Rhodes)  Oliver,  who  had  nine  sons  and  eight  daughters.  His 
parents  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania  and  of  the  Quaker  persua- 
sion. His  father's  business  was  that  of  a  contractor.  He  re- 
ceived a  common  school  tuition  in  his  early  years,  and  his  first 
employment  was  farming.  In  1840  he  removed  to  Indiana  with 
his  father,  who  had  a  contract  on  the  Northwest,  or  Wabash  & 
Erie  Canal,  and  in  1847  the  family  removed  to  Ottawa,  111.,  and 
at  the  age  of  eleven  years  Richard  left  home  and  went  on  the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  as  a  driver.  When  eighteen  years 
old  he  was  captain  of  a  canal  boat,  and  after  serving  in  this  ca- 
pacity for  a  time  he  went  on  the  Illinois  River  boats,  learned  the 
river,  and  became  a  pilot.  He  relinquished  river  life  in  1859, 
and  in  i860  came  to  Chicago  and  took  a  position  as  receiving 
clerk  with  the  Michigan  Southern  Railroad,  where  he  remained 
until  1866.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  entered  the  service  of 
Culbertson  &  Blair,  in  the  packing  business,  remaining  two 
years,  when  he  engaged  in  the  produce  commission  business  on 
his  own  account  on  South  Water  street.  In  January,  1871,  he 
bought  a  packing  house  on  Halsted  street,  near  the  viaduct, 
where  he  yet  continues  to  do  a  profitable  business.  Mr.  Oliver 
has  always  been  a  Republican  in  politics.  In  the  spring  of  1877, 
when  the  politics  of  the  Eighth  ward  were  in  a  mixed  up  and 
unsatisfactory  condition,  an  independent  meeting  was  held  in 
Turner  hall,  and  Mr.  Oliver  was  nominated  for  Alderman.  He 
received  the  notification  of  his  selection  at  the  hands  of  a  com- 
mittee of  twenty-one  prominent  citizens  of  the  ward,  accepted, 
and  was  elected  over  a  Republican,  three  Democratic  and  a  So- 
cialist opponent,  receiving  a  plurality  of  about  2,100  votes,  and  a 
majority  of  350.  He  served  two  years  in  the  City  Council,  and 
made  an  irreproachable  record.  In  1881  he  was  again  nomi- 
nated for  Alderman  by  the  Republicans  and  was  defeated  in  the 
election  by  Thomas  Purceil,  on  whom  the  Democrats  united, 
Oliver  receiving  1,600  votes  to  Purcell's  1,900.  The  correctness 
of  the  returns  of  this  election  were  questioned,  and  the  public 
press  declared  that  Oliver  was  counted  out.  In  1885  Mr.  Oliver 
was  nominated  for  County  Commissioner  by  the  Republican 
County  Convention  and  was  elected  to  the  County  Board  by  a 
majority  of  1,600.  In  this  body  he  has  been  a  consistent  champ- 
ion of  reform  and  economy  in  the  administration  of  the  public 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  505 

service.  Mr.  Oliver's  business  capacity  is  of  the  highest  order, 
as  has  been  illustrated  in  many  directions.  He  joined  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Foresters  in  1880,  and  in  1883  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  At  this  time  the  member- 
ship of  the  order  was  but  3,700  in  Cook  county  ;  the  funds  were 
depleted,  and  the  order  in  debt.  Mr.  Oliver  made  a  determined 
effort  to  put  this  splendid  order  on  a  better  footing,  and  when 
he  retired  from  the  board  of  directors  there  were  nearly  10,000 
members  of  the  order  ;  the  debts  were  paid,  and  there  was  over 
$4,000  in  the  treasury.  Mr.  Oliver  was  re-elected  a  director  in 
1884,  and  in  1885  was  elected  High  Chief  Ranger  of  the  order. 
In  recognition  of  his  services  to  the  order  his  friends  presented 
him  with  a  gold  watch  and  chain  and  a  magnificent  diamond 
badge  of  the  order,  which  has  been  pronounced  one  of  the  most 
artistic  and  valuable  testimonials  of  the  kind  ever  presented  to 
any  citizen  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Oliver  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of  United  Workmen,  Star  of  the  West  Lodge  No.  185  ;  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  Advanced  Lodge  No.  2186  ; 
and'of  Lincoln  Council  No.  67  of  the  National  Union.  He  was 
united  in  marriage  August  8,  1861,  to  Miss  Delia  Nevins,  a 
native  of  Ireland,  and  has  two  children,  aged  19  and  17  years 
respectively. 

MURRAY  F.  TULEY. 

Judge  Murray  F.  Tuley  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  being  born 
at  Louisville  in  1827.  He  began  the  study  of  law  in  1844.  He 
continued  this  for  two  years,  after  which  he  returned  to  Louis- 
ville and  entered  the  celebrated  law  institute  of  that  town. 
There  he  developed  a  decided  liking  for  chancery  practice.  He 
came  back  to  Chicago  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  soon 
afterward  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  in  the  Mexican  war.  He  es- 
tablished himself  at  Santa  Fe,  N.  M.,  and  enjoyed  a  good  prac- 
tice there,  besides  serving  in  the  territorial  Legislature.  About 
1864  he  again  came  back  to  Chicago  and  took  high  rank  at  the 
bar.  In  1869  he  was  made  Corporation  Counsel,  and  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  rendered  invaluable  services  to  the  municipality. 
In  1878  he  was  elected  Alderman  from  the  First  ward,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  made  Judge  of  the  Circuit  bench,  which  position 
he  graces  to-day.  For  several  years  Judge  Tuley  has  been  men- 
tioned prominently  as  an  available  candidate  for  the  Mayoralty 
on  the  Democratic  ticket. 


506  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

HON.  SHELBY  M.  CULLOM. 

Shelby  M.  Cullom,  of  Springfield,  was  born  in  Wayne 
county,  Kentucky,  November  22,  1829,  and  with  his  father 
removed  to  Tazewell  county,  Illinois,  the  following  year.  He 
received  an  academic  and  university  education  ;  went  to  Spring- 
field in  the  fall  of  1853  to  study  law,  and  has  since  resided  there. 
Immediately  upon  receiving  license  to  practice  he  was  elected 
City  Attorney,  but  continued  to  practice  law  until  he  took  his 
seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1865.  He  was  a  Presi- 
dential Elector  in  1856  on  the  Fillmore  ticket  ;  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Illinois  Legisla- 
ture in  1856,  i860,  1872  and  1874,  and  was  elected  Speaker  in 
1 861  and  in  1873  '<  was  elected  a  Representative  from  Illinois  in 
the  Thirty-ninth,  Fortieth,  and  Forty-first  Congresses,  serving 
from  December  4,  1865,  to  March  3,  1871  ;  was  a  Delegate  to 
the  National  Republican  Convention  at  Philadelphia  in  1872, 
being  Chairman  of  the  Illinois  Delegation,  and  placed  General 
Grant  in  nomination  ;  was  a  Delegate  to  the  National  Republi- 
can Convention  in  1884,  and  Chairman  of  the  Illinois  Delega- 
tion ;  was  elected  Governor  of  Illinois  in  1876,  and  succeeded 
himself  in  1880,  serving  from  January  8,  1877,  until  February  5, 
1883,  when  he  resigned,  having  been  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  as  a  Republican,  to  succeed  David  Davis,  Inde- 
pendent Democrat.  He  took  his  seat  December  4,  1883.  His 
term  of  service  will  expire  March  3,  1889.  Probably  no  other 
public  man  in  the  United  States  of  Mr.  Cullom's  years  has  so 
enviable  a  public  record,  or  one  that  has  been  so  uniformly  suc- 
cessful. His  majorities  when  before  the  people  for  an  elective 
office  have  been  large,  and  his  popularity  remains  undiminished. 


WILLIAM  EDGAR. 


William  Edgar,  Secretary  of  the  Chicago  Department  of 
Buildings,  was  born  in  Stranraer,  Scotland,  February  25,  1848, 
being  the  second  son  of  Thomas  Edgar  and  Mary  (Stewart)  Ed- 
gar. William  attended,  when  a  lad,  the  Stranraer  Academy  and 
afterward  the  Free  Church  School,  connected  with  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1869, 
when  twenty-one  years  of  of  age,  and  his  parents  came  in  1883. 
When  Mr.  Edgar  arrived  in  Chicago  he  did  not  have  a  dollar  in 
his  pocket.  He  set  to  work  to  win  his  way,  and  engaged  with 
a  lumber  company  in  Bridgeport,  teaching  night  school  in  the 
meantime.     In  the  winter  of  1869  he  taught  at  the  Holden  school; 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  507 

in  1880  under  Prof.  Hanaford  in  the  Sedgwick  street  school,  and 
the  following-  winter  in  the  Scammon  school.  He  yet  retains 
city  and  county  certificates  as  a  school  teacher.  When  "Uncle" 
Dan  O'Hara  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Recorder's  Court,  now  the 
Criminal  Court,  Edgar  served  a  clerkship  under  him.  He  next 
worked  as  a  mechanical  draughtsman  for  Ex-Governor  Farwell 
of  Wisconsin,  and  afterward  for  Col.  S.  V.  Shipman  in  the  same 
capacity.  In  the  fall  of  1873  he  was  appointed  Deputy  City 
Clerk  under  City  Clerk  Joseph  K.  C.  Forrest,  and  remained  in 
the  position  untrl  the  election  of  Caspar  Butz.  He  then  acted 
as  a  Clerk  in  the  County  Clerk's  office  under  E.  F.  C.  Klokke  for  a 
season.  June  19,  1879,  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  City 
Building  Department  and  yet  retains  the  office,  his  experience  as 
a  draughtsman  and  acquaintance  with  buildings  fitting  him 
especially  for  this  important  position.  Since  his  incumbency  of 
the  office  he  has  examined  the  plans  and  collected  the  assess- 
ments on  buildings  the  aggregate  cost  of  which  amounts  to  nearly 
$200,000,000,  many  of  them  the  most  substantial  and  costly  edi- 
fices in  the  city.  Mr.  Edgar  has  been  a  Democrat  since  his  first 
arrival  in  this  country,  but  has  independent  predilections  and  is 
not  backward  about  expressing  personal  views  when  occasion 
demands.  Mr.  Edgar  is  popular,  respected,  and  gains  the  high 
esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact.  He  is*  a  member 
of  the  St.  Andrews  Society;  and  of  Apollo  Blue  Lodge,  A.,  F. 
and  A.  M.;  of  Chicago  Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Masons;  of  St. 
Bernard  Commandery,  K.  T. ;  of  the  Illinois  Council  of  the 
Royal  Arcanum;  of  Medinah  Temple  of  the  Nobles  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine,  and  is  Vice-Ruler  of  the  Thirteen  Club,  an 
organization  of  bold  and  hardy  spirits,  banded  together  to  com- 
bat superstition,  under  a  charter  from  the  original  Thirteen 
Club  of  New  York.  Mr.  Edgar  was  Regent  of  his  Council  of 
the  Royal  Arcanum  for  three  years,  and  upon  his  retirement 
was  presented  by  his  brother  members  with  a  diamond  mounted 
Regent's  jewel,  which  is  pronounced  one  of  the  most  splendid 
testimonials  of  the  kind  ever  devised.  Mr.  Edgar  has  a  well 
appointed  home  at  No.  819  Warren  avenue,  in  the  Twelfth 
ward,  where  he  is  always  ready  to  dispense  hospitality  to  his 
friends.  He  was  married  October  7,  1875,  to  Miss  Jeannette 
Law  Kirkland,  daughter  of  Alexander  Kirkland,  Esq.,  and  is 
the  father  of  five  children,  the  oldest  a  daughter,  born  July  4, 
1876,  and  the  youngest,  a  daughter  also,  born  April  6,  1886. 
Mr.  Edgar  has  several  times  been  offered  the  nomination  of  his 
party  for  political  offices,  and  has  invariably  declined  to  allow 
the  use  of  his  name  in  such  a  connection. 


508  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

EDWARD  F.  CULLERTON. 

Edward  Francis  Cullerton,  member  for  fifteen  years  of  the 
Chicago  City  Council,  was  born  in  Chicago  October  II,  1842. 
His  father,  Edward  Cullerton,  was  a  farmer;  a  native  of  Wex- 
ford, Ireland,  and  his  mother  was  Ellen  (Ryan)  Cullerton,  a 
native  of  Queen's  county,  Ireland.  His  parents  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1841  and  settled  near  Summit,  and  his  father 
followed  the  canal  and  river  for  several  years,  departing  this  life 
in  1885  at  the  age  of  93  years,  and  his  mother  dying  in  1874. 
He  had  no  opportunity  to  obtain  schooling  except  in  the  winter 
months  when  he  was  between  the  age  of  8  and  12  years,  but 
being  of  a  studious  disposition  he  subsequently  achieved  a 
practical  business  education.  When  12  years  of  age  he  was 
employed  in  a  brick-yard  and  subsequently  kept  a  livery  and 
boarding  stable.  For  more  than  ten  years  after  this  he  was  a 
driver  on  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  ;  became  captain  and 
owner  of  a  boat,  and  subsequently  took  charge  of  Walker  & 
Bronson's  towing  boats  on  the  canal  and  river.  In  the  fall  of 
1 87 1,  when  31  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  to  the  City  Council 
from  the  then  Seventh  ward;  in  the  fall  of  1872  to  the  State 
Legislature;  and  in  the  fall  of  1873  and  every  two  years  since 
was  re-elected  to  the  City  Council  from  the  Sixth  ward.  His 
elections  have  .always  been  at  the  earnest  request  and  through 
the  efforts  of  the  people  of  his  district,  and  his  majorities  have 
averaged  larger  than  those  given  any  other  candidate  for  a  similar 
office.  He  is  regarded  by  the  people  of  his  district  as  an  old, 
able,  tried  and  experienced  representative,  and  although  he  is 
always  singled  out  as  the  object  of  bitter  partisan  attacks  he 
still  retains  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  voters  of  his  ward. 
He  has  twice  refused  the  nomination  of  his  party  for  Congress, 
and  twice  refused  the  nomination  for  State  Senator,  his  term  in 
the  Legislature  leading  him  to  discover  that,  he  had  either  to 
neglect  his  business  or  decline  an  office  that  would  require  his 
attention  away  from  home.  Aid.  Cullerton  is  now  the  oldest 
member  of  the  City  Council,  and  he  is  regarded  as  the  ablest 
parliamentarian  and  most  forcible  speaker  in  that  body,  a  part 
of  these  qualifications  being  natural,  and  a  part  acquired  in  his 
efforts  to  become  self-educated.  He  has  been  honored  by  his 
confreres  with  many  positions  of  responsibility,  having  been 
chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  three  terms  and  of  other 
important  committees.  He  has  been  instrumental  in  devising 
and  carrying  out  many  of  the  most  substantial  improvements  in 
the  city,  notably  in  connection  with  public  works  and  West  side 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  509 

street  improvements.  Although  Aid.  Cullerton  was  elected  to 
the  Legislature,  and  the  first  time  to  the  Council  as  a  Repub- 
lican, he  has  since  then  affiliated  with  the  Democratic  party, 
having  been  active  in  party  councils,  a  delegate  to  numerous 
County,  State  and  National  Conventions,  in  all  of  which  his 
political  ability  has  been  recognized,  and  his  powerful  oratory 
effective.  He  was  a  member  of  the  "Reform"  Council  of  1876 
and  a  valuable  ally  to  Thomas  Hoyne  in  his  contest  of  authority 
with  Mayor  Colvin.  In  1876  he  established  a  detective  bureau, 
but  soon  relinquished  this  line  of  business,  associating  himself  in 
the  wholesale  liquor  business  with  Ex- Aid.  Julius  Jonas  from 
1878  till  1882,  when  he  organized  the  Prismatic  Light  and 
Safety  Car-Heating  Company,  with  a  factory  on  Canal  street. 
This  concern  he  sold  in  April,  1886,  and  entered  the  real  estate 
business.  He  was  married  November  24,  1868,  to  Miss  Winifred 
Dyer  of  Chicago,  and  has  a  comfortable  home  in  the  ward  he 
has  so  long  represented. 


WILLIAM  J.  McGARIGLE. 

William  J.  McGarigle,  Warden  of  the  Cook  County  Hospi- 
tal and  ex-Superintendent  of  the  Chicago  Police  Department, 
is  one  of  the  youngest  men  in  the  Democratic  party  who 
has  achieved  official  and  political  prominence  in  Chicago.  He 
was  born  in  Milwaukee  in  1852,  his  father  being  a  civil  engineer 
and  contractor,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  who 
had  lived  in  Chicago  when  it  was  but  a  small  city,  having  built 
houses  for  Mayor  Dyer  in  1843.  At  an  early  age  young 
McGarigle  attended  the  German  and  English  academy  at  Mil- 
waukee and  pursued  a  course  of  studies  that  well  fitted  him  for 
responsible  positions  in  later  life.  Besides  the  ordinary  English 
branches  he  became  thoroughly  versed  in  the  German  language. 
He  was  made  Secretary  of  the  Chicago  Police  Department  in 
1872  under  Mayor  Medill,  being  at  that  time  the  youngest  man 
connected  with  the  force.  Subsequently  he  was  transferred  to 
the  detective  department  and  acted  as  Secretary  of  that  bureau 
for  nearly  two  years.  He  then  became  an  outside  operative  in 
order  to  learn  the  active  details  of  detective  service,  and  after  one 
year's  experience  was  rapidly  promoted  to  Sergeant,  Lieutenant, 
and  finally  Chief  of  the  Detective  Department,  with  the  rank  of 
Captain.  He  was  Chief  of  Detectives  from  1875  to  1878  and 
then  asked  for  a  change  of  district  in  order  to  still  further 
enlarge  his  experience.       He   was  transferred  to  the  West  divi- 


5IO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS. 

sion  and  made  Captain  of  the  Madison  (now  Desplaines  street) 
precinct,  and  in  a  short  time  he  had  cleared  the  West  division 
of  a  gang  of  hardened  criminals  who  had  up  to  this  time  defied 
conviction.  Through  the  efforts  of  Captain  McGarigle  thirty- 
five  of  the  worst  malefactors  in  the  city  were  sent  to  the  peniten- 
tiary on  terms  of  from  four  to  fifteen  years  each.  In  the  fall  of 
1879  he  was  promoted  by  Mayor  Carter  H.  Harrison  to  the 
General  Superintendency  of  the  Police  Department.  His  ability 
was  generally  recognized  by  the  public  and  his  appointment  was 
commended  by  the  public  press  without  exception.  In  the 
spring  of  1882  Chief  McGarigle  went  to  Europe  on  a  tour  of 
inspection  of  the  various  police  systems  in  use,  returning  in 
September,  when  he  made  to  the  Council  an  exhaustive  and  val- 
uable report,  summarizing  the  results  of  his  observations  in  Lon- 
don, Paris,  Berlin  and  Vienna,  showing  by  comparisons  the 
requirements  of  metropolitan  cities  ;  cost  of  maintenance  ;  system 
of  operation,  serviceability,  etc.,  and  making  many  suggestions 
that  were  afterward  put  in  operation  under  his  direction,  and 
which  brought  the  Chicago  police  force  up  to  the  highest  grade 
of  any  in  the  country.  He  introduced  a  complete  system  of 
records  ;  devised  a  system  of  inventories  and  report  blanks  ; 
raised  the  grade  of  lockup  keepers  to  station  keepers,  and 
required  such  officers  to  be  able  to  read,  write  and  possess  intelli- 
gence enough  to  make  complete  reports  to  headquarters. 

In  1879  Chief  McGarigle  introduced  and  superintended 
the  police  patrol  system.  A  system  similar  to  this  had  been 
talked  of  by  Chiefs  McGarigle,  Benner  and  Sweenie  of  the  Fire 
Department,  and  Superintendent  John  Barrett  of  the  City  Fire 
Alarm  Department,  for  several  years.  The  theory  was  to  get 
the  police  where  they  were  wanted  in  the  quickest  possible  time. 
Iron  alarm  boxes  and  mounted  police  were  first  favorably 
considered  under  Chief  of  Police  Hickey,  but  it  was  not  until  the 
introduction  of  the  telephone  that  any  reliable  service  could  be 
organized,  and  when  Mayor  Harrison  lent  the  project  his  com- 
mendation and  support,  the  service  was  introduced,  and  several 
years  of  practical  use  have  proved  it  the  most  valuable  adjunct 
of  police  service  ever  devised.  Subsequently  he  made  many 
improvements  on  the  patrol  wagons,  including  straps  to  give  the 
stretchers  an  easy  motion  ;  canvas  shades,  rubber  covers,  etc. 
There  were  seventeen  wagons  in  operation  in  Chicago  when 
Chief  McGarigle  resigned  in  1882  to  become  a  candidate  for 
Sheriff  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  His  opponent  in  the  Shriev- 
alty  canvass  was  Seth   F.  Hanchett,  a  popular  ex-soldier  and 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  5  I  I 

Republican,  and  the  campaign  was  an  exceedingly  lively  one. 
Many  unjust  charges  were  made  against  McGarigle  on  partisan 
grounds  ;  the  brunt  of  the  fight  was  directed  at  him  aad  he  was 
defeated.  He  then  entered  into  business  pursuits  and  was  active 
in  the  organization  of  the  Underground  Telegraph  Conduit 
Company  of  which  Louis  Wahl  was  President.  In  1883,  without 
personal  effort  or  desire  on  his  part,  he  was  appointed  Warden 
of  the  Cook  County  Hospital,  and  has  since  conducted  this  office, 
being  re-appointed  annually.  Under  his  supervision  the  morale 
of  this  splendid  institution  has  been  greatly  improved  ;  expenses 
lessened  in  many  departments  and  increased  in  others  ;  the 
attendants  are  models  of  proper  deportment,  and  the  purpose  of 
a  great  public  hospital,  in  the  care  of  and  attention  to  patients,  is 
entirely  subserved  under  his  able  management. 


JOHN  M.  DUNPHY. 

John  Matthew  Dunphy  was  born  in  Utica,  New  York, 
October  2,  1834.  His  father  was  Martin  Dunphy,  a  native  of 
Kilkenny,  Ireland,  and  a  bricklayer  by  trade,  and  his  mother, 
Mary  (Hickey)  Dunphy  was  a  native  of  Bennett's  Bridge,  a 
suburb  of  Kilkenny  City.  His  parents  came  to  the  United 
States  in  June,  1834,  locating  at  Utica,  where  during  his  early 
years  John  M.  attended  the  public  schools.  He  learned  the 
trade  of  a  bricklayer  with  James  Benton,  an  old  and  noted  con- 
tractor, who  was  afterward  elected  Mayor  of  Utica  on  the  work- 
ing men's  ticket.  In  April,  1855,  he  came  to  Chicago  and 
immediately  engaged  on  a  contract  for  William  E.  Wheeler,  at 
Beloit,  Wis.  From  1856.  to  1858  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  in 
several  Western  cities  ;  returning  then  to  Chicago  and  following 
his  trade  until  1863,  when  he  went  into  business  as  a  con- 
tractor and  builder  on  his  own  responsibility.  In  1864  he  took 
into  partnership  Dennis  Wall,  and  the  firm  dissolved  in  1866, 
when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  W.  A.  Barton,  which  con- 
tinued until  the  great  fire  in  October,  1871.  Although  his 
losses  were  heavy  it  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Dunphy  by 
arduous  labor  retrieved  his  fortunes,  and  became  noted  as  a 
reliable  and  successful  contractor  and  builder.  From  187 1  to 
1883  ne  erected  some  of  the  handsomest  and  most  durable 
structures  in  the  city,  including  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Name 
on  the  North  side  ;  St.  James'  church  en  Wabash  avenue;  vt. 
Vincent's,  at  Webster  avenue  and  Osgood  street ;  St.  Columb- 
kill's  at  Indiana  and  Paulina  streets;  the  residences  of  George 


512  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

M.  Pullman  and  B.  P.  Moulton  ;  the  Hayes  school  ;  schools  in 
Hyde  Park  and  Lake,  and  many  other  public  and  pri- 
vate edifices.  He  was  elected  the  first  president  of  the  Brick- 
layer's Union  in  1863,  and  has  ever  possessed  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  laboring  classes.  In  1883  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  Charles  P.  Wakeman,  his  former  foreman, 
which  still  exists.  In  1877  Mr.  Dunphy  was  named  by  the 
Citizens'  Committee  as  a  candidate  for  County  Commissioner, 
and  was  indorsed  by  the  Democrats.  The  Republicans  at  this 
time  had  a  large  majority  in  Cook  county  and  refused  to 
indorse  the  Citizens'  candidates,  and  although  Mr.  Dunphy 
ran  2,000  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket,  he  was  defeated.  In  1879 
he  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  for  West  Town  Collector 
and  received  2,700  majority.  In  1882  he  became  candidate  for 
Sheriff  and  received  68  votes  in  the  County  Convention.  In 
1883  he  was  nominated  by  the  Democratic  City  Convention  for 
City  Treasurer  and  was  elected  by  3,800  majority  over  Dennis 
O'Connor,  the  Republican  and  Citizens'  Union  nominee.  In 
the  fall  of  1886  his  friends  urged  him  to  become  a  candidate  for 
Sheriff.  Mr.  Dunphy  did  not  care  to  antagonize  certain  elements 
that  were  opposed  to  him  in  his  party,  and  made  no  active  per- 
sonal effort  to  secure  the  nomination.  He  received  93  votes  in 
the  convention  however,  and  his  friends  claim  would  have  been 
nominated  had  not  the  roll  call  been  twice  changed  before  the 
result  of  the  balloting  was  announced.  His  supporters  among 
the  labor  organizations  pushed  him  forward  for  the  nomination 
of  the  United  Labor  (Socialist)  party,  and  he  developed  great 
strength,  but  the  Convention  adjourned  before  a  ballot  was 
taken,  and  when  it  next  re-assembled  the  anti-Socialist  wing  was 
excluded.  These  delegates,  with  representatives  of  some  of 
the  most  powerful  unions  in  the  city,  met  in  convention  subse- 
quently and  nominated  Mr.  Dunphy  for  Sheriff  by  a  vote  of  144 
to  44  delegates  on  the  first  ballot.  The  ticket  was  known  as  the 
Cook  County  Labor  League  ticket,  and  Mr.  Dunphy  accepted 
the  nomination  tendered  him. 

Mr.  Dunphy  is  a  member  of  the  Iroquois  Club  ;  the  Cook 
County  Democratic  Club;  president  of  the  John  M.  Dunphy 
and  of  the  Sharpshooters  (German)  Building  and  Loan  Asso- 
ciation, and  treasurer  of  the  Sonora  Land  Company,  which  has 
a  reservation  of  4,000,000  acres  in  Sonora,  Mexico.  He  is 
genial,  popular,  and  his  honesty  is  proverbial.  He  was  married 
January  29,  1859,  to  Miss  Mary  Doyle,  daughter  of  Edward 
Doyle  of  County  Wicklow,  Ireland  ;  and  has  one  son  surviving, 
John  J.  Dunphy,  aged  25  years. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  513 

HON.  JAMES  H.  WARD. 

James  H.  Ward,  Representative  in  Congress  from  the  Third 
Illinois  district,  was  born  in  Chicago,  November  30,  1853,  at 
the  paternal  homestead  southwest  corner  of  Halsted  and  Mad- 
ison street,  the  present  site  of  Cole's  Block.  His  father,  Hugh 
Ward,  was  an  early  settler  and  an  extensive  builder  and  con- 
tractor, having  in  company  with  his  brother,  James  Ward,  erected 
many  of  the  most  substantial  buildings  of  early  Chicago,  their 
reputation  as  builders  extending  throughout  the  West.  Hugh 
Ward  was  born  near  Antrim,  North  of  Ireland.  When  twenty 
years  of  age  he  came  to  the  United  States  and  located  near 
Auburn,  N.  Y.,  came  to  Chicago  in  1842,  and  entered  actively 
into  building  operations  about  the  same  time.  James  Ward  was  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Education  from  1857  to  1863,  and  the 
building  and  supply  agent  for  the  Board  for  eighteen  years.  He 
died  in  1881.  In  appreciation  of  his  valuable  aid  to  the  cause  of 
education  the  Ward  School  at  Shields  avenue  and  Twenty- 
Seventh  street  was  named  in  his  honor.  Hugh  Ward  died 
January  30,  1859,  after  an  honorable  and  successful  business  ca- 
reer. James  H.  Ward  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Chicago  and  afterward  pursued  a  classical  course  of  education 
at  the  University  of  Notre  Dame,  and  upon  graduating  in  1873 
went  to  Europe  for  observation  and  study  and  remained  a  year. 
Upon  his  return  he  entered  the  Union  College  of  Law  and  com- 
pleted his  course  in  1876,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  July  4  of 
that  year.  He  immediately  began  to  enjoy  a  large  and  remuner- 
ative practice,  devoting  his  attention  mainly  to  probate  and 
chancery  matters.  In  April,  1879,  he  was  made  the  Democratic 
nominee  for  West  Town  Supervisor  and  Town  Treasurer,  and 
was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  While  rilling  this  office  he  took 
up  $300,000  of  West  Town  8  per  cent,  bonds  and  refunded  them 
at  5  per  cent,  thus  making  an  annual  saving  of  $9,000;  and 
he  also  had  a  clause  inserted  in  the  new  bonds  providing  for 
their  redemption  by  the  town  at  any  time.  In  June,  1884,  he 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic  State  Convention  at  Peoria, 
and  was  named  as  one  of  the  Cleveland  and  Hendricks  elec- 
tors. In  the  fall  of  1884  he  was  nominated  for  Congress  and 
was  elected  by  a  decisive  majority,  defeating  two  opponents, 
Senator  William  E.  Mason  and  General  J.  E.  Fitz  Simons.  In 
Congress  he  made  an  enviable  record  and  returned  at  the  close 
of  the  season  with  undiminished  popularity,  his  friends  tender- 
ing him  a  notable  banquet  at  the  Palmer  House,  and  urging 
him    to    accept   a    re-nomination.      This,    however,    Mr.    Ward 

33 


514  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

declined,  having  business  interests  that  prohibited  him  from 
again  becoming  a  candidate.  Subsequently  a  committee  was 
appointed  and  the  nomination  was  again  placed  at  his  disposal 
and  he  was  urged  to  accept,  but  Mr.  Ward  in  a  letter  to  the 
Third  District  Committee,  stated  that  he  had  accepted  the  nom- 
ination in  1884  out  of  deference  and  duty  to  his  party  and 
friends,  and  while  he  appreciated  the  new  honor  tendered  him, 
his  private  interests  compelled  him  to  absolutely  decline  re-nom- 
ination. Mr.  Ward  married,  October  25,  1877,  Miss  Agatha  St. 
Clair,  daughter  of  the  late  Alexander  St.  Clair,  for  many  years 
connected  with  the  first  Chicago  railroad — the  Galena  and  Chi- 
cago Union.  Mr.  Ward  has  one  child,  Hugh  St.  Clair  Ward, 
five  years  of  age. 

LAWRENCE  A.   YORE. 

Lawrence  Alphonsius  Yore,  representative  in  the  City 
Council  from  the  Eighth  ward,  was  born  in  Deerfield,  Lake  county, 
Illinois,  November  5,  1844.  His  father,  Michael  Yore,  and  his 
mother,  Rosa  Ann  (Farley)  Yore,  were  natives  of  County 
Meath,  Ireland,  who  came  to  the  United  States  in  1822  and 
settled  at  Syracuse,  New  York,  coming  west  and  locating  on  a 
farm  in  Lake  county  in  1837.  Lawrence  received  a  common 
school  education  ;  worked  for  a  season  on  the  farm  and  then 
learned  the  shoemaking  trade,  working  first  at  Lake  Forest  and 
serving  out  his  apprenticeship  at  Waukegan.  He  came,  to  Chi- 
cago in  1859,  locating  in  the  old  Tenth  ward,  now  the  Eighth, 
and  followed  his  trade  for  seven  years.  He  then  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Field  &  Leiter  in  the  packing  department,  and  next  took  a 
contract  to  attend  to  outside  work  for  Kinsley  the  caterer. 
Subsequently  he  became  city  agent  for  W.  F.  McLaughlin's 
spice  mills,  and  acted  in  this  capacity  until  1883,  when  he 
engaged  in  the  milk  business.  He  was  nominated  as  an  inde- 
pendent candidate  for  Alderman  of  the  strongly  Democratic 
Eighth  ward  in  the  spring  of  1885,  and  was  defeated.  In  the 
spring  of  1886  he  was  nominated  by  the  Republicans  and  was 
elected  by  359  majority  ;  defeating  John  Long  the  Democratic 
nominee.  Alderman  Yore  is  a  fluent  speaker  and  able  represen- 
tative in  the  Council,  and  has  hosts  of  friends.  He  is  President 
of  the  Young  Men's  Social  Club  of  the  West  side;  a  member 
of  the  Order  of  Foresters;  and  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen.  He  was  married  in  1872  to  Miss  Anastasia  Ander- 
son of  Chicago,  and  has  six  children. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY.  AND  ILLINOIS.  515 

CHARLES  F.  L.  DOERNER. 

Charles  F.  L.  Doerner,  Representative  of  the  Sixth  ward 
for  two  terms  in  the  City  Council,  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Alpen  Rod,  Duchy  of  Nassau,  November  16,  1851.  His  father 
was  a  well  to  do  farmer  and  his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  the 
Burgomaster  of  his  native  village.  In  1857  his  parents  emi- 
grated to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  Chicago,  and  he  spent 
several  years  in  attendance  at  the  Jones  and  Foster  schools. 
Subsequently  he  learned  the  business  of  house  and  sign  paint- 
ing, and  pursued  it  successfully  for  several  years.  In  1874  his 
father  died  leaving  him  the  care  of  his  mother,  three  sisters  and 
a  younger  brother.  Having-  settled  in  the  Sixth  ward  in  1859 
he  became  well  known  and  his  many  good  qualities  won  him  the 
regard  and  esteem  of  his  friends  and  neighbors.  He  was  induced 
to  become  a  candidate  for  Alderman  in  1881  against  J.J.  Altpeter, 
Socialist,  and  J.  W.  Wooley,  Republican.  The  Socialists  at  this 
time  were  numerous  in  the  Sixth  ward  and  well  organized,  and 
Mr.  Altpeter  was  popular  with  all  classes.  Doerner  received 
1,560  votes  and  Altpeter  1,669.  In  1883  the  Bohemians  and 
Socialists  united  on  Frank  Huabka  for  Alderman,  and  Mr. 
Doerner  was  induced  to  again  enter  the  field.  He  ran  and 
defeated  Huabka  by  1,900  majority.  In  the  spring  of  1885 
all  of  the  various  nationalities  of  which  the  population  of 
the  ward  is  composed  had  candidates  in  the  field,  and  Mr. 
Doerner's  friends  believed  it  to  be  to  the  interests  of  the 
ward  that  he  should  remain  in  the  Council.  They  nomi- 
nated him  and  he  was  elected  over  George  W.  Kroll,  Re- 
publican ;  Charles  A.  Monear,  Independent  Democrat,  and 
Wenzel  Kasparek,  Independent.  The  election  was  contested 
by  Monear  and  Kasparek,  and  after  a  thorough  investiga- 
tion and  re-count  the  election  was  given  to  Doerner  by  a 
decisive  majority.  Alderman  Doerner  has  ever  been  active  in 
the  interests  of  his  ward.  The  measure  for  the  construction  of 
the  Twelfth  street  steam  steel  double  bridge  was  introduced  by 
him,  and  this  improvement  is  of  direct  and  immense  benefit  to 
the  Sixth  ward.  He  was  also  instrumental  in  requiring  the 
Wisconsin  Central  Railway  to  build  the  center  pier  of  this 
bridge,  thereby  saving  the  city  $37,000.  Alderman  Doerner  was 
an  able  champion  of  the  Center  avenue  and  Sixteenth  street  via- 
ducts. When  he  entered  the  Council  the  eastern  end  of  the 
ward,  which  was  largely  settled  by  Bohemians,  was  urgently  in 
need  of  sewerage,  and  through  his  efforts  nearly  every  street 
has  been  properly  sewered.      He  has  been   active   in   securing 


5t6  politics  and  politicians. 

many  other  improvements,  and  especially  have  his  efforts  met 
with  success  in  the  matter  of  street  improvements.  The  people 
of  the  ward  were  at  first  opposed  to  these  improvements  ;  they 
objected  to  assessments  and  wanted  delays,  but  now  that  a  large 
number  of  streets  have  been  permanently  improved  they  are 
well  pleased  and  give  Alderman  Doerner  well  merited  credit  for 
wise  foresight  in  looking  to  their  interests. 


HENRY  T.  MURRAY. 


Henry  T.  Murray,  Secretary  of  the  Cook  County  Demo- 
cratic Club,  and  of  the  Cook  County  Democratic  Central  Com- 
mittee, was  born  in  Montreal,  P.  O.,  August  7,  1849,  and  in 
September  following  came  to  Chicago  with  his  parents.  He 
attended  the  old  Dearborn  school ;  Bryant  and  Stratton's  Busi- 
ness College  and  Judge  Booth's  Commercial  Law  School,  where 
he  graduated.  In  1866  he  entered  George  C.  Smith  &  Bros.' 
bank  as  a  messenger  ;  went  through  all  the  grades  of  clerkship, 
became  cashier,  and  wound  up  the  affairs  of  this  once  noted 
banking  institution  in  1874.  He  next  entered  the  Security 
Savings'  Bank  as  cashier,  and  after  serving  several  months  in 
this  capacity  resigned  and  went  into  the  railway  supply  business. 
He  next  became  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Brooks  &  Co.,  milliners, 
at  No.  96  State  street,  and  this  venture  not  proving  profitable 
he  took  an  interest  in  the  commission  house  of  S.  T.  Buchan  & 
Co.,  on  the  Board  of  Trade.  In  January,  1880,  he  entered  the 
city  employ  as  bookkeeper  of  the  Special  Assessment  Depart- 
ment, and  he  has  held  a  responsible  general  position  in  this  de- 
partment ever  since,  being  now  in  charge  of  the  credits.  He 
has  lived  in  the  Second  ward  for  the  past  nine  years,  and  has 
always  been  prominently  identified  with  Democratic  politics. 
He  was  first  elected  Secretary  pro  tem  of  the  Democratic  City 
Central  Committee,  and  in  December,  1884,  elected  Secretary 
of  the  Cook  County  Club,  and  in  December  of  the  following 
year  Secretary  of  the  Democratic  County  Central  Commit- 
tee. He  was  also  Secretary  of  Mayor  Harrison's  Campaign 
Executive  Committee  in  the  spring  of  1885,  and  of  the  Cook 
County  Campaign  Committee  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year.  Mr. 
Murray's  political  acumen  and  great  organizing  ability  have 
rapidly  advanced  hin  in  the  councils  of  his  party  ;  his  popularity 
is  unquestioned,  and  he  possesses  the  esteem  and  confidence  of 
many  friends.  He  was  married  July  22,  1875,  to  Miss  Anna 
K.  Mead,  of  Boston,  and  has  one  son,  ten  years  of  age. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  517 

DENIS  J.  SWENIE. 

Denis  Joseph  Swenie,  Chief  of  the  Chicago  Fire  Depart- 
ment, was  born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  July  29,  1834.  His  father, 
John  Swenie,  and  his  mother,  Ellen  (McAlice)  Swenie,  were  born 
in  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  his  father  was  a  tailor  by  trade. 
They  came  to  the  United  States,  direct  to  Chicago,  in  1848. 
Denis  J.  attended  the  public  schools  of  Glasgow,  and  upon  his 
arrival  here  learned  the  trade  of  a  harness  and  hose  maker  with 
Charles  E.  Peck,  on  Lake  street.  His  first  experience  in  lire 
department  matters  was  gained  as  a  hose  boy  on  Engine  No.  3, 
and  December  3,  1849,  ne  became  assistant  foreman  of  the  com- 
pany. He  joined  Red  Jacket  Engine  Company,  No.  4,  in  1852, 
and  was  made  assistant  foreman,  and  when  No.  4  was  disbanded 
he  went  back  to  No.  3.  About  this  time  he  took  an  active  part 
in  organizing  the  famous  Shields  Guards,  which  were  under  the 
command  of  the  brave  Col.  Mulligan,  and  became  lieutenant  of 
the  company.  It  was  the  custom  in  those  days  to  elect  officers 
of  the  fire  department  on  the  regular  city  tickets,  the  department 
making  its  own  nominations,  and  in  March,  1856,  he  was  put  on 
both  city  tickets  for  the  position  of  First  Assistant  Engineer,  a 
position  similar  to  that  of  First  Assistant  Marshal  now.  He  was 
elected  and  served  during  1856  and  1857.  In  1858  ha  was  elect- 
ed Chief  of  the  department,  and  during  that  year  the  first  steam 
engines  were  introduced — the  Long  John,  Atlantic,  Enterprise 
and  Island  Queen,  and  the  foundation  was  laid  for  the  present 
magnificent  department.  In  1859  ne  went  back  to  No.  3,  and 
remained  till  1861,  when  the  company  went  out  of  service.  In 
April,  1861,  he  organized  and  took  command  of  Liberty  Engine 
Company,  No.  7.  In  1867  it  was  changed  to  No.  14,  with  the 
Fred  Gund  engine,  named  after  one  of  the  Fire  Commissioners. 
During  all  of  these  changes  the  old  Volunteer  Fire  Department 
was  gradually  going  out  of  service,  but  the  organization  was  kept 
up  until  1863,  when  the  last  company,  the  Northern  Liberty,  at 
Larrabee  street  and  North  avenue,  disbanded.  He  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  Fred  Gund  in  the  great  fire  of  187 1,  and  it  was  lost 
in  the  rush  of  fire  at  Canal  and  Van  Buren  streets.  The  com- 
pany under  his  charge  then  took  Coventry  Engine,  No.  11,  and 
after  arduous  service  saved  four  squares,  from  Market  to  Michi- 
gan street  on  the  North  side.  In  September,  1873,  ne  was  aP- 
pointed  First  Assistant  Marshal,  and  served  until  July  3,  1879, 
when  he  was  made  Acting  Marshal,  vice  Matt  Benner.  He  was 
appointed  Chief  Marshal  in  October,  1879.     As  First  Assistant 


5  1 8  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Marshal  he  played  an  important  part  in  the  great  July  fire  of 
1874,  and  won  the  thanks  of  press  and  public  for  his  good  judg- 
ment and  splendid  efforts  to  stay  the  progress  of  that  dangerous 
conflagration.  Chief  Swenie  is  noted  throughout  the  world  as  a 
well-trained  and  experienced  fire  fighter.  He  has  been  several 
times  seriously  injured,  in  the  performance  of  duty.  He  has 
been  identified  with  the  growth  of  the  present  famous  Chicago 
Fire  Department  from  a  small  beginning  until  it  stands  acknowl- 
edged as  the  best  in  the  world.  When  he  first  joined  the  de- 
partment it  consisted  of  one  hook  and  ladder  truck  and  six  little 
hand  engines.  It  now  includes  thirty-nine  steam  engines  ;  eleven 
hook  and  ladder  trucks  ;  nine  chemical  engines,  stand-pipe  and 
water-tower  apparatus,  and  all  of  the  most  expensive  parapher- 
nalia of  the  modern  fire  department.  The  470  men  and  208 
horses  of  the  department  are  all  well-housed,  and  the  discipline 
is  maintained  at  the  highest  standard, — Chief  Swenie  possessing 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  men,  and  being  popular  among 
all  classes,  because  of  his  sturdy  character  and  genial  disposition. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Firemen's  Benevolent  Association  ;  a 
member  of  the  National  Association  of  Fire  Engineers ;  a  dele- 
gate to  and  chairman  of  conventions,  and  was  president  of.  the 
association  in  1885.  Chief  Swenie's  prominence  and  popularity 
are  not  confined  alone  to  the  fire  department  or  his  present 
public  position.  He  has  frequently  been  given  prominence  in 
connection  with  politics,  and  his  name  for  the  office  of  Sheriff, 
and  also  for  City  Treasurer,  has  been  often  considered  in  party 
councils.  In  the  fall  of  1886  he  was  requested  to  allow  the  use 
of  his  name  for  the  office  of  Sheriff  on  the  Democratic  ticket, 
but  he  declined  to  desert  the  Fire  Department  for  a  political 
office  at  that  time.  Thoroughly  identified  with  the  important 
public  department  over  which  he  presides,  with  the  ability  bred 
of  long  experience  and  complete  mastery  of  details,  no  consid- 
eration will  induce  him  to  change  unless  he  is  convinced  that  a. 
superior  public  duty  awaits  performance  at  his  hands.  His 
friends  who  gave  him  prominence  in  connection  with  the  office  of 
City  Treasurer  in  1885,  and  again  tendered  him  the  nomination 
for  Sheriff  are  confident  of  his  popularity  and  strength  before 
the  people,  however,  and  have  not  ceased  to  urge  the  advisability 
of  his  nomination  at  some  future  time.  He  was  married  Octo- 
ber 16,  1853,  to  Miss  Martha  Toner  of  Chicago,  and  is  the  father 
of  six  children  now  living — the  eldest  three  being  daughters,  now 
married,  and  the  younger  three,  sons,  the  eldest  son,  Frank  W. 
Swenie,  being  an  operator  in  the  city  Fire  Alarm  Telegraph  Office. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND   ILLINOIS.  =10 

CHARLES  S.   PETRIE. 

Charles  Silas  Petrie,  Assistant  Marshal  and  Secretary  of 
the  Chicago  Fire  Department,  was  born  at  Xo.  211  Illinois 
street,  Chicago,  September  25,  1S40.  After  attending  the  pub- 
lic schools,  at  15  years  of  age  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Mc- 
Cormick  Reaper  Company  as  an  apprentice  in  the  machinery 
department.  He  had  previously  become  a  member  of  the 
Volunteer  Fire  Department,  serving  as  runner  in  the  Hose 
Company  Xo.  11,  of  which  he  was  secretary.  In  1S57  he  was 
seized  with  the  gofd  fever  and  went  west  to  Pike's*  Peak,  but  he 
soon  became  tired  of  rouarhino-  it  in  the  mines  and  went  steam- 
boating  on  the  Mississippi  River,  acting  as  assistant  engineer. 
January  30,  1S62,  he  married  Miss  Martha  A.  Morton,  of 
Nashville,  Tenn..  and  shortly  afterward  returned  to  Chicago  and 
became  engineer  of  the  tug-boat  Union.  In  September, 
he  was  offered  and  accepted  the  position  of  assistant  engineer 
of  Atlantic  Engine  Co.  Xo.  2.  and  served  in  this  capacity  two 
and  a  half  years,  when  he  returned  to  the  McCormick  Reaper 
Works.  February  1,  1S66,  he  was  appointed  assistant  engineer 
of  J.  B.  Rice  Engine  Co.,  Xo.  10,  and  at  the  end  of  a  year  was 
made  engineer  in  charge.  When  the  William  James  Engine 
Co.  Xo.  21,  was  organized.  Xovember  21,  1S67,  h^  was  trans- 
ferred to  that  and  retained  charge  until  len  he  was  ap- 
pointed Third  Assistant  Fire  Marshal.  From  this  time  his 
advancement  was  rapid.  He  was  given  entire  charge  of  the 
West  division  and  April  11.  1*577.  was  made  Superintendent 
of  the  Department  repair  shops.  October  12.  1880,  he  came  near 
losing  his  life  at  the  Academy  of  Music  fire,  when  with  seven 
other  members  of  the  department  he  was  precipitated  through 
the  roof  into  the  parquette  of  the  theater,  and  all  were  seriously 
injured.  January^.  1881,  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the 
Fire  Department  to  succeed  Hans  Haerting,  deceased,  and  has 
since  filled  the  position  in  connection  with  his  duties  as  Marshal. 
He  is  considered  standard  authority  on  all  matters  pertain 
fire  apparatus,  and  is  a  thorough  and  skilled  engineer.  He  in- 
vented the  stand-pipe  and  water-tower  combined,  in  us 
department,  the  heater,  and  many  other  valuable  appliances. 
Mr.  Petrie  considers  it  remarkable  that  the  date  of  his  entrance 
to  the  Fire  Department  and  all  of  his  promotions  have  occurred 
on  Friday.  He  is  well  proportioned  physically,  being  5  feet  9 
inches  in  height  ;  broad  chested,  and  well-knit.  In  disposition 
he  is  genial,  and  possesses  in  a  high  degree  the  fa:  aking 
and  retaining  friends. 


520  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

JOHN  T.   HOYNE. 

John  Thomas  Hoyne,  son  of  Hon.  Philip  A.  Hoyne  and 
Theresa  C.  (French)  Hoyne,  was  born  in  Chicago,  March  31, 
1854  ;  the  residence  of  his  parents  at  the  date  of  his  birth  being 
on  Clark  street  between  Washington  and  Madison,  now  one  of 
the  principal  city  thoroughfares.  He  first  attended  a  private 
German  school  connected  with  the  German  Lutheran  church  on 
Twelfth  street,  near  May,  and  next  attended  the  Christian 
Brothers'  academy  connected  with  St.  Patrick's  church,  and  then 
attended  a  similar  school  at  the  corner  of  Van  Buren  street  and 
Fourth  avenue.  His  first  employment  was  in  1869  as  an  entry 
clerk  in  the  great  drygoods  house  of  Field  &  Leiter.  In  1871 
he  engaged  with  J.  V.  Farwell,  and  after  filling  various  positions, 
took  charge  of  a  set  of  books  in  the  business  office  of  the  latter 
firm.  July  6,  1885,  Mr.  Hoyne  accepted  an  appointment  as  Sup- 
erintendent of  the  money  order  division  of  the  Chicago  post- 
office.  Mr.  Hoyne  for  many  years  has  taken  an  active  interest 
in  politics.  His  first  vote  was  for  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  In  1880 
he  was  identified  with  Hans  Haerting  in  the  organization  of  the 
original  Young  Democracy,  being  Treasurer  of  the  Fifteenth 
ward  branch.  In  1884,  when  the  present  Young  Democracy 
organization  came  into  existence,  Mr.  Hoyne  was  elected  Vice- 
President  of  the  organization.  He  has  frequently  been  a  dele- 
gate to  the  regular  party  conventions  ;  is  a  member  of  the  Cook 
County  Club,  and  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Algonquin 
Club,  now  a  strong  organization  of  active  young  Democrats. 
Mr.  Hoyne  is  universally  popular,  and  is  considered  to  have  a 
promising  future  in  public  affairs. 


DANIEL  W.   RYAN. 


Daniel  W.  Ryan,  Alderman  of  the  Fourteenth  ward,  has 
resided  in  Chicago  since  boyhood,  and  has  been  for  several  years 
prominently    identified    with  the  politics  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Ryan  was  born  in  County  Tipperary,  Ireland,  in  1843. 
In  1856  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  coming  alone  to 
Waterford,  Saratoga  county,  New  York,  where  an  elder  brother 
resided.  He  remained  in  Waterford  three  years,  during  which 
time  he  learned  the  cooper's  trade.  In  1859  he  removed  with  a 
sister  to  Mt.  Sterling,  Brown  county,  Illinois.  The  following 
year  he  went  to  Peoria,  and  1861  came  to  Chicago,  which  city 
has  ever  since  been  his  home. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  52  I 

In  August,  1862,  he  entered  the  service  of  his  country, 
enlisting  in  Company  V,  First  Illinois  Artillery.  He  participated 
in  the  I  ennessee  campaign  and  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of 
Chickamauga,  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge.  After 
the  latter  engagement  he  followed  the  fortunes  of  General  Sher- 
man in  his  march  through  Georgia,  participating  in  all  the 
battles  of  the  Atlanta  campaign  as  far  as  Jonesborough. 

July  24,  1865,  he  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  at  Chicago 
aid  at  once  resumed  his  old  occupation  of  a  cooper.  In  1874 
he  engaged  in  the  coopering  business  in  a  small  way  on  his  own 
account  in  the  Fourteenth  ward.  He  was  eight  years  on  Raw- 
son  street  and  for  one  year  has  been  located  at  numbers  19  to 
27  Coventry  street.  Here  Mr.  Ryan  does  a  large  and  prosper- 
ous business  in  the  manufacture  of  barrels  for  distillers  and 
rectifiers,  employing  about  fifty  hands. 

After  leaving  the  army  he  regularly  attended  night  schools 
in  Chicago  where  he  learned  bookkeeping  and  acquired  an  educa- 
tion which  has  made  him  successful  in  all  the  later  undertakings 
of  his  life.  He  was  married  in  Chicago  in  May,  1881,  to  Miss 
Agnes  E.  Donovan.  They  have  four  children,  Mamie,  Agnes, 
Daniel  W.  Jr.,  and  Cornelius. 

Mr.  Ryan  has  always  been  a  staunch  Republican,  and  takes 
an  active  part  in  political  matters,  particularly  in  the'Fourteenth 
ward,  where  he  has  resided  for  nearly  twenty  years.  In  1884 
he  was  the  Republican  candidate  for  Alderman  in  his  ward,  but 
was  defeated.  In  1886  he  was  again  the  candidate  of  his  party 
and  was  elected  by  a  plurality  of  1,200  votes. 

Mr.  Ryan  is  widely  known,  and  has  hosts  of  friends  among 
the  veterans  of  Chicago,  with  whom  he  has  always  sustained 
the  closest  relations.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Veteran  Union  League,  the  Veteran 
Union  Club,  and  the  Irish-American  Club. 


H.  A.  VARNELL. 


Harry  A.  Varnell,  Warden  of  the  Cook  County  Hospital 
for  the  Insane,  is  one  of  the  youngest  men  filling  an  official 
position  in  the  county  institutions.  He  was  born  in  Franklin  - 
ville,  Winnishiek  county,  Iowa,  February  13,  1852,  and  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Chicago  in  1854.  He  first  attended  the  old 
Dearborn  school  on  Madison  street  near  Dearborn,  and  subse- 
quently the  Jones  school  at  Harrison  and  Clark  streets.  He 
next  took  a  course  at  that  old,  and  in  its   day,  well-known  insti- 


c22  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

tution,  Hathaway's  Business  College.  Upon  arriving  at  his 
majority  he  engaged  with  a  partner  in  the  galvanized  cornice 
manufacturing  business,  and  subsequently,  the  venture  not  prov- 
ing sufficiently  profitable,  he  took  the  agency  of  a  safe  and  lock 
company.  In  1881  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  municipal  cam- 
paign, and  again  in  the  fall  election  of  1882.  He  was  appointed 
Warden  of  the  Insane  Asylum  September  1,  1884,  and  has  been 
re-appointed  annually  since  that  date.  Mr.  Varnell  is  of  a  genial 
disposition  and  popular  among  his  friends,  who  predict  for  him 
a  public  career  of  much  usefulness.  Like  all  public  institutions 
subject  to  the  control  of  semi-political  bodies  the  Insane  Asylum 
is  frequently  the  bone  of  partisan  contention  and  the  subject  of 
public  discussion,  but  throughout  many  such  controversies  and 
several  investigations  Warden  Varnell  has  never  been  found 
lacking  in  attention  to  duty,  and  has  maintained  the  affairs  of 
the  institution  under  his  charge  at  a  high  grade  of  serviceability, 
and  no  charge  reflecting  upon  his  administration  of  the  office  of 
Warden  has  been  justly  made  or  sustained.  Mr.  Varnell  was  mar- 
ried in  187  1  to  Miss  Lillie  Favor,  and  is  the  father  of  four  children. 


JOHN    A.    BELL. 


John  A.  Bell,  Assessor  of  the  Town  of  West  Chicago,  and 
Record  Writer  of  the  Criminal  Court  of  Cook  county,  has  for 
the  past  eight  years  been  prominently  identified  with  the  political 
history  of  Chicago,  which  has  been  his  home  for  twenty  years. 

Mr.  Bell  is  the  son  of  Amedee  Bell  and  was  born  in  Troy, 
New  York,  May  13,  1850.  He  received  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  city,  and  at  St.  Mary's  Academy.  In 
1866  he  came  alone  to  Chicago  and  began  life  for  himself  as  a 
clerk  in  a  hotel.  In  1868  he  went  to  Portage  Lake,  Michigan, 
as  general  timekeeper  and  properly  clerk  for  the  Portage  Lake 
and  Lake  Superior  ship  canal,  where  he  remained  until  February, 
1 87 1,  when  he  returned  to  Chicago  and  entered  Porter's  Business 
College.  After  the  fire  of  1S71  he  worked  for  some  years  as  a 
painter,  which  trade  he  had  learned  while  in  the  city  of  Troy. 

In  1878  he  entered  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  Criminal 
Court  as  office  clerk.  He  was  promoted  to  minute  clerk,  and  for 
two  years  has  filled  the  responsible  position  of  Record  Writer. 

In  1885  Mr.  Bell  received  the  Republican  nomination  for 
Assessor  of  the  Town  of  West  Chicago,  and  was  elected  by  a 
majority  of  1,700  over  Timothy  E.  Ryan,  Democrat.  In  1886 
he  was  re-elected  by  a  majority  of  4,200  over  the  same  opponent, 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  523 

running  largely  ahead  of  his  ticket.  This  was  the  first  election 
under  the  Crawford  law,  and  Mr.  Bell  carried  seven  out  of  the 
nine  wards  in  the  West  Town.  He  is  Republican  in  politics, 
but  has  friends  in  all  parties. 

Mr.  Bell  is  President  of  the  Stephen  A.  Douglas  Council, 
President  of  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society,  and  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Benevolent  Legion. 

Mr.  Bell  was  married  in  Chicago  in  1873  to  Miss  Adel 
Perrier.  They  have  five  children  living;  John  A.,  Jr.,  Frank  A., 
Maud  A.,  Mae  R.,  and  Theodore  A. 


TIMOTHY  RYAN. 


Timothy  Ryan,  of  the  Fourteenth  ward,  one  of  the  most 
prominent,  active  and  popular  men  in  politics  in  his  division  of 
the  city,  was  born  in  Tipperary,  Ireland,  March  20,  1842,  his 
parents  being  farmers.  He  arrived  in  the  United  States  with 
his  parents  in  1848,  settling  in  Utica,  where  he  attended  the 
public  schools  for  a  time.  In  1856  the  family  moved  to  Detroit, 
and  after  one  year's  residence  there  settled  in  Chicago.  Here  he 
attended  night  schools  and  at  sixteen  years  of  age  engaged  in  the 
tanning  and  wool  business  with  Christian  Cassellman,  remaining 
eight  years.  He  then  went  to  San  Francisco  and  engaged  in 
the  same  business  there  for  himself,  remaining  nearly  six  years, 
when  he  returned  to  Chicago.  In  1868  he  became  foreman  for 
Reed  &  Sherwin  in  the  packing  house  and  wool  business,  and 
after  acting  in  this  capacity  for  sixteen  months  he  established  a 
glove  and  mitten  manufactory,  and  conducted  it  nine  years. 
He  then  became  a  wool-buyer,  and  has  conducted  a  wool-buying 
and  grading  business  until  the  present  time.  Mr.  Ryan  has  a 
fine  family  and  a  pleasant  home,  and  is  an  extensive  property- 
owner  in  the  Fourteenth  ward,  where  he  has  lived  since  his  re- 
turn from  San  Francisco.  In  politics  Mr.  Ryan  has  always  been 
a  Democrat  and  has  frequently  been  a  member  of  important 
political  committees,  serving  now  as  a  member  of  the  Co®k 
County  Democratic  Central  Committee.  He  is  highly  respected 
and  esteemed  by  his  neighbors,  and  his  friends  are  legion.  Al- 
though often  urged  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  City  Council,  the 
Board  of  County  Commissioners,  the  Legislature  and  other 
offices  of  honor  and  trust,  Mr.  Ryan  has  invariably  declined. 
While  an  uncompromising  Democrat,  Mr.  Ryan  has  independent 
tendencies  in  local  matters,  and  is  an  outspoken  advocate  ot 
political  reforms. 


524 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


CHARLES    E.    SCHARLAU. 

Charles  Ernest  Scharlau  was  born  in  Pomerania,  on  the 
Baltic,  May  23,  1845,  his  parents  being  farmers.  With  his 
parents  he  came  to  this  country  in  1853,  and  settled  in  Chicago, 
having  lived  continuously  in  the  Fourteenth  ward  since  1856. 
He  attended  the  Franklin  public  school  until  12  years  old,  when 
he  applied  himself  to  learning  the  trade  of  a  gilder,  becoming  in 
time,  foreman  of  Rando  &  Co.'s  establishment.  In  1862,  when 
seventeen  years  of  age  he  enlisted  in  Company  G,  57th  Illinois 
Volunteers  and  re-enlisted  in  the  Veterar>  Volunteers  at  Lynn- 
ville,  Tenn.,  in  December,  1863.  He  served  at  the  front  in  the 
Sixteenth  Army  Corps  under  Gen.  R.  J.  Oglesby,  and  in  the 
Fifteenth  Corps  under  Major  General  John  A.  Logan.  He  was 
with  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  on  Sherman's  famous  march  to 
the  sea,  and  was  injured  May  9,  1864,  in  the  passage  of  the 
Ostanola  river,  at  the  battle  of  Resaca.  He  was  in  the  battle  of 
Bentonsville,  N.  C,  the  last  of  the  war  fought  by  Sherman's 
army,  and  was  in  the  grand  review  at  Washington,  May  23, 
1865,  and  received  his  discharge  in  June.  He  returned  to  Chi- 
cago and  resumed  work  at  his  trade  for  the  ensuing  ten  years. 
In  1870  he  was  appointed  Deputy  Sheriff  by  Sheriff  Tim  Bradley 
and  served  four  years,  and  then  served  as  Deputy  County 
Collector  under  County  Collector  Louis  Huck,  and  was  Deputy 
West  Town  Assessor  under  Assessor  Pleasant  Amick.  When 
Jacob  Rehm  was  Chief  of  Police,  and  Charles  Rehm  Chief  of 
Detectives,  Mr.  Scharlau  accepted  a  position  in  the  detective 
department,  but  soon  resigned.  In  1868  he  was  a  delegate  in 
the  Republican  County  Convention,  and  was  offered  and  de- 
clined the  nomination  for  Supervisor  of  the  old  Twelfth  ward, 
now  the  Fourteenth.  Since  1868  he  has  been  Central  Com- 
mitteeman and  delegate  to  various  State,  County  and  City 
Conventions.  In  1874  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  State 
Legislature  and  was  defeated.  In  1880  he  was  again  a  candidate, 
running  against  S.  D.  Mieroslowski.  Out  of  this  election  the 
celebrated  Scharlau-Mieroslowski  contest  arose.  The  ballots 
after  three  counts  showed  a  majority  of  50  for  Scharlau,  but 
upon  being  taken  to  Springfield  the  Committee  on  Elections 
declared  Mieroslowski  elected  by  43  majority.  In  1882  there 
were  rival  Senatorial  Conventions  in  the  district,  and  Scharlau 
was  the  nominee  of  the  Fourteenth  ward  wing,  but  declined  in 
favor  of  W.  E.  Mason.  In  1884  he  was  nominated  and  elected 
tn  the  Senate  by  the  largest  majority  ever  received  by  a  candidate 
in   the   district,    defeating  August    Wendel,    a   prominent  and 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  c2c 

popular  German.  He  was  nominated  for  the  House  by  acclama- 
tion on  September  29,  1886.  While  in  the  Senate  he  secured  the 
passage  of  the  Park  Bill,  allowing  an  additional  tax  of  half  a 
mill  for  park  improvements.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Labor  and  Industrial  Affairs  and  a  firm  friend  of  the 
Convict  Labor  Bill,  and  was  a  member  of  other  important  com- 
mittees. Mr.  Scharlau  is  now  a  prosperous  real  estate  dealer. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  ; 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  ;  Court  Jefferson  Lodge 
of  the  Foresters-;  Jefferson  Post,  445,  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  ;  of  Cregier  Lodge  of  Free  Masons  ;  of  the  West 
side  Grant  Club,  and  a  member  and  president  three  terms  of 
the  57th  Illinois  Veteran  Volunteer  Association.  Mr.  Scharlau 
was  married  March  5,  1870,  to  Miss  Martha  E.  Mugler,  a  native 
of  New  York,  and  has  two  daughters  aged  15  and  12  years. 


MICHAEL  CASSIUS  McDONALD. 

No  history  of  the  politics  of  Chicago  would  be  complete 
without  an  account  of  the  connection  therewith  of  Michael  C. 
McDonald,  who  for  ten  years  has  been  prominent  in  all  the 
councils  of  his  party  ;  an  active  organizer  and  a  leader  who 
is  acknowledged  to  have  made  and  unmade  the  political  for- 
tunes of  more  people  than  any  other  individual  politician  in 
the  West.  He  was  born  at  Niagara  Falls,  New  York,  Sep- 
tember 2,  1839  I  tne  son  °f  Edward  and  Mary  (Guy)  McDonald. 
His  father  was  born  in  Cork,  Ireland,  and  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  in  1838,  and  his  mother  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Limerick  and  came  to  this  country  in  1830.  His  paternal  grand- 
father was  a  tanner  and  his  mother's  parents  kept  a  general 
store.  His  mother  died  April  11,  1863,  and  his  father  is  enjoy- 
ing his  declining  years  in  comfort.  Michael  C.  attended  the 
public  school  at  Niagara  Falls  and  graduated  from  Hoyt's  col- 
lege at  the  same  place,  whence  also  were  graduated  many  other 
prominent  Chicago  citizens.  When  the  Great  Western  Rail- 
road was  completed  a  former  schoolmate,  William  E.  Tunis, 
established  a  news  and  book  agency  on  the  line,  and  Michael 
went  on  the  road  as  a  newsboy.  In  the  fall  of  1854  he  took  a 
run  to  Chicago  and  a  two  weeks'  visit  convinced  him  that  this 
was  destined  to  be  a  great  city  and  that  it  was  the  right  place 
for  him  to  locate.  He  returned  in  1855  in  company  with  Henry 
Marvin,  another  bright  young  lad,  and  about  the  same  time 
three  other  Niagara  Falls  boys,  who  were  his  friends,  arrived 


526  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

here — Joseph  and  John  Maronel  and  James  Fehan.  All  of  his 
early  companions  are  now  dead.  Henry  Marvin  was  killed  on 
the  Chicago  and  Burlington  road  June  5,  1855,  and  was  buried 
by  his  young-  friends.  James  Fehan  became  secretary  of  the  old 
fire  department  under  Chief  Silas  McBride.  Michael  ran  on  the 
Burlington  route  in  1855-6,  and  his  last  experience  as  a  news 
agent  was  in  i860  when  he  went  down  on  a  branch  road  between 
Hamilton  and  Toronto  to  sell  books  during  the  visit  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  to  Canada.  He  returned  to  Chicago  and  cast 
his  maiden  vote  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  the  fall  of  i860,  and 
after  the  election  went  to  New  Orleans  where  with  Roger  Sher- 
man he  established  an  agency  in  the  St.  Charles  hotel  for  the 
sale  of  revolving  stereoscopic  view  apparatus,  and  was  there  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Sherman  was  a  rabid  Abolitionist  and 
made  himself  offensive  by  constant  outspoken  expressions  on 
the  subject.  The  night  after  Fort  Sumter  fell  a  file  of  soldiers 
marched  into  the  hotel  ;  the  Sergeant  tapped  Sherman  on  the 
shoulder  and  told  him  he  was  a  prisoner.  McDonald  escaped  arrest 
by  showing  that  he  was  a  New  York  Democrat  and  had  voted 
for  Douglas.  He  always  supposed  Sherman  was  taken  out  and 
shot,  and  often  related  the  circumstance  as  the  first  instance  in 
his  knowledge  of  removal  for  offensive  partisanship,  nor  did  he 
learn  what  had  become  of  Sherman  until  1884,  when  he  met  in 
New  Orleans  a  gentleman  named  Haynie,  residing  in  a  parish 
sixty  miles  from  New  Orleans  who  told  him  that  he  had  assisted 
Sherman  to  escape  and  that  he  had  been  living  in  his  neighbor- 
hood ever  since.  McDonald  left  New  Orleans  on  a  steamer, 
landed  at  Memphis,  and  returned  to  Niagara  Falls.  In  the  fall 
of  1 86 1  he  returned  to  Chicago  and  in  company  with  Calvin 
Page  bought  out  the  barroom  of  the  Richmond  house  at  the 
corner  of  Michigan  avenue  and  South  Water  street,  then  one  of 
the  finest  hotels  in  the  city,  and  this  he  conducted  until  the  fall 
of  1863.  His  father  and  his  brother  Edward  joined  him  here, 
and  the  latter  became  the  engineer  of  a  tug  boat  on  the  river, 
going  subsequently  into  the  service  of  the  Government  to  trans- 
port prisoners  of  war  to  a  station  in  Lake  Erie,  and  later  down 
the  Atlantic  coast  in  the  government  transfer  service.  After 
the  war  Edward  McDonald  was  chief  engineer  of  the  steamship 
Cleopatra  in  the  Havana  trade,  and  later  for  two  years  was  engi- 
neer in  charge  of  the  New  York  Herald  office  for  James  Gordon 
Bennett,  by  whom  he  was  highly  esteemed  for  efficiency  and 
trustworthiness.  M.  C.  McDonald  after  leaving  the  Richmond 
house  opened  a  billiard   hall  and   bar  at   61  and  63  Randolph 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  527 

street,  where  he  continued  four  years,  when,  in  company  with 
John  T.  Corcoran,  Patrick  Casey  and  Charles  DuBois,  he 
opened  a  clubhouse  in  a  frame  building  where  the  Tribune 
office  now  stands,  and  opposite  which  John  R.  Walsh,  who  was 
a  newsboy  on  the  train  with  McDonald,  then  had  a  newstand. 
At  the  time  of  the  fire  in  1871  he  had  an  interest  in  three  or 
four  clubhouses  and  a  wine  and  liquor  house  on  Dearborn 
street  between  Randolph  and  Washington.  His  loss  in  the  fire 
was  complete,  and  out  of  $30,000  insurance  he  failed  to  recover 
anything.  After  the  fire  he  opened  a  saloon  near  the  corner  of 
State  and  Harrison  streets,  but  soon  sold  this  and  it  was  burnt 
in  the  second  fire.  He  next  located  on  the  West  side  and  soon 
had  interests  in  several  clubhouses.  He  opened  "The  Store" 
on  Clark  street  near  Monroe,  afterward  a  celebrated  political 
headquarters,  in  the  spring  of  1873,  the  building  having  been 
constructed  to  suit  him  by  Edwin  Walker.  Here  he  entered  in- 
to partnership  with  Lawrence  &  Martin  in  the  wholesale  liquor 
and  cigar  business.  The  firm  dissolved  in  1877,  Lawrence  & 
Martin  opening  a  rival  place  at  m  Madison  street  and  Mc- 
Donald confining  his  efforts  to  "  The  Store,"  Lawrence  & 
Martin  failing  in  1880.  His  first  active  service  in  Democratic 
party  politics  was  in  the  Tilden  campaign  of  1876,  although  in 
1868  he  had  supported  Seymour  and  Blair,  and  in  1872  General 
Grant  as  against  Horace  Greeley,  and  in  this  campaign  he  did  a 
great  deal  of  local  work  for  the  regular  Republican  ticket.  He 
was  in  the  convention  at  St.  Louis  that  nominated  Tilden  and 
was  at  the  head  of  the  Tilden  marching  clubs.  He  was 
active  in  securing  the  nomination  and  election  of  Mayor 
Harvey  D.  Colvin,  and  also  gave  his  active  support  to  Perry 
H.  Smith  for  Mayor  as  against  Monroe  Heath,  thereby  incur- 
ring the  enmity  of  Chief  of  Police  M.  C.  Hickey,  who  denounced 
him  as  a  gambler,  and  made  "The  Store"  the  object  of  repeated 
raids.  It  was  one  of  these  raids  when  his  private  apart- 
ments were  forcibly  entered  that  gave  rise  to  a  celebrated 
test  case  and  a  decision  by  Judge  McAllister  that  the  police 
had  no  power  to  make  forcible  entry  unless  provided  with 
warrants.  McDonald  has  always  maintained  that  all  of  the  gam- 
blers were  at  that  time  opposed  to  him,  and  in  favor  of  the  elec- 
tion of  Mayor  Heath.  In  the  fall  of  1876  he  was  a  supporter  of 
Charles  Kern  for  Sheriff,  who  was  elected,  but  prior  to  this 
the  Democrats  had  held  no  county  offices  to  speak  of.  In 
1877  the  Democratic  County  Central  Committee  was  formed, 
and  a  bitter  fight  for  supremacy  between  factions  was  waged, 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS. 

David  Thornton  was  deposed  as  committeeman  from  the  First 
ward  and  Joseph  C.  Mackin  elected  in  his  stead.  McDonald 
supported  Mackin,  and  together  they  secured  control  of  the 
party  organization  and  maintained  it  for  several  years.  In  1S7S 
they  supported  Charles  Kern  for  Sheriff  as  against  John  Hoff- 
man, and  while  he  was  defeated  by  but  3,100  votes  the  balance 
of  the  ticket  was  defeated  by  an  average  majority  of  13,000  in 
Cook  county.  They  were  active  in  the  support  of  Judges 
Roger  and  Gary  to  the  Circuit  bench  as  non-partisan  candi- 
dates, and  in  June,  1879,  tney  supported  Judges  McAllister, 
Moran,  Barnum,  Rogers  and  Tuley,  who  were  elected  and  re- 
elected in  1885  on  a  non-partisan  ticket.  In  the  spring  mu- 
nicipal campaign  of  1879  they  were  active  in  securing  the  elec- 
tion of  Mayor  Carter  H.  Harrison,  City  Treasurer  William  C. 
Seipp,  City  Clerk  Patrick  Howard  and  City  Attorney  Julius  S. 
Grinnell,  and  in  1881  the  same  ticket  with  the  substitution  of 
Rudolf  Brand  for  Treasurer;  and  again  in  1883  with  the  substi- 
tution of  John  M.  Dunphy  for  Treasurer,  and  John  G.  Neumeis- 
ter  for  City  Clerk.  They  also  elected  Dr.  Swayne  Wickersham 
to  the  City  Council  from  the  First  ward  for  three  consecutive 
terms  and  would  have  reelected  him  had  he  not  declined.  In 
the  fall  of  1882  their  adherents  had  full  control  of  the  County 
convention  and  nominated  W.  J.  McGarigle  for  Sheriff,  W.  C. 
Seipp  for  Treasurer,  M.  J.  Ryan  for  Clerk  and  Richard  S. 
Prendergast  for  County  Judge,  and  all  were  elected  except 
McGarigle,  against  whom  the  fire  of  the  entire  opposition  was 
directed.  Indeed,  the  strong  and  winning  combinations  which 
controlled  conventions  ;  dictated  nominations  ;  managed  a  per- 
fect system  of  political  machinery  and  received  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  voters  of  the  Democratic  party,  was  almost  entirely 
subject  to  the  command  of  M.  C.  McDonald,  and  it  is  a 
notable  fact  that  among  the  many  officials  named  none  have 
been  found  derelict  in  duty  to  the  public.  The  same  element 
supported  Henry  M.  Shepard  for  Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court 
in  1883,  and  he  defeated  Judge  Jameson,  who  had  formerly 
carried  Cook  county  by  16,000  majority,  and  McDonald  was  a 
ruling  factor  in  the  municipal  convention  of  1885  and  the  County 
convention  of  1886.  During  his  connection  with  the  controlling 
element  of  his  party  it  has  nominated  and  elected  many  persons 
to  minor  offices  in  the  county  and  town  governments,  and,  as  is 
ever  the  case  under  our  political  system,  some  bad  men  have 
crept  in.  In  1881  Mr.  McDonald  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the 
organization  of  the  Cook  County  Democratic  Club,  and  has  ever 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS  523 

since  been  one  of  its  chief  mainstays.  He  has  been  a  delegate 
and  active  factor  in  city,  county,  state  and  national  conventions, 
and  has  almost  invariably  seen  his  favored  candidates  successful. 
In  1884  he  originally  favored  the  nomination  of  "the  old  ticket" 
of  Tilden  and  Hendricks  and  after  the  famous  letter  of  declara- 
tion of  Mr.  Tilden  he  was  a  supporter  of  Hon.  Joseph  McDonald, 
but  discovering  the  tendency  of  the  country  to  be  in  the  direction 
of  a  change  from  old  party  lines  ;  a  plain  business-like  adminis- 
tration and  certain  reforms,  and  that  Grover  Cleveland  was  the 
choice  of  the  majority,  he  became  a  strong  adherent  of  the  head 
of  the  present  administration.  Mr.  McDonald  has  never  sought 
office  for  himself.  He  is  the  owner  of  large  stone  quarries  at 
Lemont ;  has  great  real  estate  and  building  interests  in  Chicago  ; 
is  a  large  stockholder  in  the  Chicago  Passenger  Railroad,  is 
interested  largely  in  other  substantial  business  ventures,  and  is 
worth  considerable  over  $1,000,000.  He  was  married  June  7, 
1863,  to  Miss  Marie  Cecilia  Noonan,  of  Lockport,  Niagara  Co., 
New  York,  and  is  the  father  of  four  children  ;  Harley  C.  Mc- 
Donald, aged  21  ;  Birdie  McDonald,  aged  19;  Guy  C,  aged  7, 
and  Cassius  Michael,  aged  8  months. 


CHARLES  HERMAN  PLAUTZ. 

C.  Herman  Plautz,  City  Clerk  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  was 
born  in  the  year  1844  in  the  village  of  Klein  Sabow,  Northern 
Germany.  His  parents  were  well-to-do  farmers,  and  at  an  early 
age  he  was  sent  to  the  best  schools  his  native  place  afforded. 
His  father  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  revolution  of  1848,  and 
being  dissatisfied  with  the  German  government  he  emigrated  to 
the  United  States  in  1855.  They  located  at  Oconomowoc, 
Wisconsin,  where  they  continue  to  reside.  The  son  attended 
school  and  applied  himself  closely  to  his  studies  until  the  spring 
of  1 861,  when  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Chicago  and  found 
employment  in  a  drugstore.  After  five  years'  experience  in  this 
business,  and  becoming  thoroughly  conversant  with  it,  he  be- 
came the  head  of  the  concern,  through  the  kindness  of  his 
employer,  who  turned  his  entire  business  over  to  Mr.  Plautz, 
who  conducted  it  successfully  until  the  fall  of  1882,  when  he 
sold  out  in  order  to  engage  in  the  wholesale  drug  trade.  He 
then  organized  the  Chicago  Drug  and  Chemical  Company,  and 
for  two  and  one-half  years  was  the  treasurer  of  the  concern.  It 
was  successfully  managed,  and  is  to-day  one  of  our  largest  manu- 
facturing establishments.  In  politics  Mr.  Plautz  has  always  been 
34 


530  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

a  staunch  Republican.  Since  first  settling  in  the  Northwestern 
part  of  the  city,  he  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  improve- 
ments and  politics  of  the  Fourteenth  ward.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Republican  City  Campaign  Executive  Committee  in  1881  ; 
and  treasurer  of  the  Cook  County  Campaign  Committee  in  the 
fall  of  1884.  At  the  beginning  of  1885  he  retired  from  active 
business  and  in  March  of  that  yearwas  nominated  for  City  Clerk 
on  the  ticket  with  Judge  Sidney  Smith,  and  was  one  of  the  two 
successful  Republican  candidates,  being  elected  by  a  decisive 
majority,  and  serving  creditably.  During  the  Smith-Harrison 
mayoralty  contest  Mr.  Plautz  had  charge  of  the  ballots  and  his 
action  throughout  was  honorable,  non-partisan,  and  elicited 
praise  from  both  sides.  Mr.  Plautz's  life  has  been  a  studious 
one  and  he  has  a  splendid  education,  the  result  of  his  own  efforts. 
He  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  business  circles;  is  universally 
respected  and  highly  regarded  for  his  many  admirable  traits  of 
character.  He  has  a  fine  family  and  is  happily  situated  in  his 
home  relations,  having  a  splendid  homestead  at  No.  731  North 
Hoyne  avenue.  Mr.  Plautz  is  a  Free  Mason,  and  member  of 
other  benevolent  organizations. 


JOHN    J.    CURRAN. 

John  Joseph  Curran  was  born  August  5,  1845,  in  the  south 
of  Ireland,  his  father,  Michael  Curran,  being  a  farmer,  and  his 
mother,  Margaret  M.  (Griffin)  Curran,  a  cousin  of  the  noted 
Irish  poet,  Gerald  Griffin.  He  came  to  the  United  States  with 
his  parents  in  1850  and  they  settled  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  remov- 
ing to  Indiana  in  1854,  and  to  Clinton  county,  la.,  in  1856. 
John  J.  Curran  first  attended  the  public  school  in  Syracuse;  a 
district  school  in  Indiana,  and  in  Iowa  a  select  school  at  Clinton. 
At  15  years  of  age  he  entered  a  grocery  store  in  Clinton  as  clerk 
and  subsequently  learned  the  carpenter's  trade.  After  he  had 
mastered  the  latter  trade  he  returned  to  New  York  and  worked 
at  Oswego.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  entered  the  service 
of  the  Government  and  was  assigned  to  the  Navy  Yard  at  Cairo, 
111.  He  was  soon  given  charge  of  a  complement  of  men  and 
went  ahead  of  the  army  building  bridges.  He  was  at  the  siege 
of  Nashville,  and  there  contracted  a  fever  which  came  near  having 
a  fatal  termination,  and  from  the  effects  of  which  he  yet  suffers. 
He  returned  to  Iowa  and  in  1865  became  a  contractor  and 
builder,  coming  to  Chicago  after  the  great  fire.  He  was  engaged 
by  Turner  &  Sumner,  as  superintendent  of  their  lumber  driers 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS. 


53 


and  in  the  fall  of  1882  he  and  Mr.  Turner  invented  an  improved 
drier,  Mr.  Curran  inventing  the  steam  part  of  it  and  making 
other  improvements.  Subsequently  he  devised  and  patented 
the  Curran  Excelsior  Drier  and  became  the  founder  of  the 
lumber  dry  kiln  business  in  the  United  States.  His  process 
has  saved  many  million  dollars  to  the  lumber  interests  and  has 
made  him  independently  rich.  Mr.  Curran  is  a  self-made  man  ; 
a  public-spirited  citizen  and  a  liberal  contributor  to  causes  of 
charity,  Irish  Nationality  and  Democratic  party  politics.  He 
has  taken  an  active  interest  in  politics  for  the  past  fifteen  years, 
having  in  1879  been  a  leading  spirit  in  the  important  Greenback 
movement  of  that  period  and  being  the  means  of  combining  the 
two  Greenback-labor  wings  in  Chicago  that  resulted  in  the  first 
nomination  of  Carter  H.  Harrison  for  the  Mayoralty.  He  has 
resided  in  the  Second  Congressional  district  since  1871  and  has 
frequently  been  urged  by  his  friends  to  stand  as  .in  independent 
candidate  for  Congress.  He  was  prevailed  upon  to  become  an 
independent  candidate  for  Alderman  of  the  Seventh  ward  in  the 
spring  of  1879  upon  a  pledge  of  the  Republican  indorsement. 
There  were  two  Democratic  candidates — John  Riordan  and 
John  McNally — and  a  long  term,  and  Aid.  Hildreth's  unexpired 
term  in  the  Council,  to  be  filled.  The  night  before  the  election 
the  Republicans  put  up  a  candidate  in  the  person  of  Henry 
Kerber.  Mr.  Curran  received  900  votes,  and  both  Riordan  and 
McNally  were  elected.  Subsequently  he  was  offered  the  nomi- 
nation for  County  Commissioner,  but  refused  it,  and  was  urged 
to  become  a  Candidate  for  Congress  and  for  City  Treasurer,  but 
declined.  In  1884  his  name  was  presented  in  the  Congressional 
Convention  as  against  Frank  Lawler,  and  his  friends  failed  by 
eight  votes  to  nominate  him.  In  the  fall  of  1886  he  actively 
sought  the  nomination,  but  the  "machine"  was  against  him  and  he 
was  defeated.  A  convention  of  Independent  Democrats,  and 
citizens  of  the  district  was  called,  and  he  was  nominated  by  ac- 
clamation on  the  Independent  People's  ticket.  Mr.  Curran  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Democratic  County  Central  Committee 
in  1884,  and  re-elected  in  1885  and  1886.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Second  Congressional  District  Committee  and  has  been  a 
delegate  to  various  State,  County  and  City  Conventions.  He 
was  an  ardent  supporter  of  Grover  Cleveland  for  President  in 
1884,  and  contributed  liberally  to  the  expenses  of  the  campaign. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Iroquois  and  Cook  County  Clubs  and 
September  16,  1886,  was  elected  President  of  the  Cook  County 
Young  Democracy,  an  organization  including  in  its  membership 


532  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

nearly  10,000  active  young  members  of  the  Democratic  party. 
Mr.  Curran  has  always  been  an  unselfish  and  patriotic  supporter 
of  the  Irish  Nationalist  cause,  and  in  1885  was  a  delegate  to  the 
Philadelphia  Convention  of  the  Irish  National  Land  League. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  and  of  the 
Irish  Nationalists.  He  is  an  extensive  property-owner  and  has 
made  many  costly  and  substantial  improvements  in  the  city, 
especially  in  the  Second  district,  where,  on  Blue  Island  avenue 
near  Fourteenth  street,  stands  a  handsome  new  public  hall 
erected  by  him  in  1886.  He  is  President  of  the  Curran  Mutual 
Aid  and  Building  Association,  which  society,  since  its  establish- 
ment in  1883,  mainly  through  his  energy  and  efforts,  has  built 
one  hundred  houses  and  furnished  homes  for  six  hundred  people. 
Another  new  and  prosperous  association  of  the  same  kind  of 
which  he  is  also  the  president  is  called  the  Curran  Hall  Building 
and  Loan  Association,  and  he  is  also  treasurer  of  the  John  M. 
Dunphy  Building  and  Loan  Association.  Mr.  Curran  was  mar- 
ried in  1870  to  Miss  Margaret  M.  Conlon,  of  Clinton  county, 
Iowa. 


MICHAEL  J.  CORCORAN. 

Michael  J.  Corcoran,  one  of  the  most  active  and  influential 
men  identified  with  Democratic  politics  in  Chicago,  was  born 
May  16,  1848,  the  place  where  he  first  saw  the  light  being  the 
old  St.  Louis  House  at  the  corner  of  Market  and  Washington 
streets,  kept  by  his  father,  Jeremiah  Thomas  Corcoran.  This 
was  a  celebrated  hotel  in  its  time,  which  was  in  the  palmy  days 
of  canal  traffic,  when  the  house  was  the  great  headquarters  for 
the  packet  men.  Jeremiah  T.  Corcoran  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Chicago,  coming  here  from  Canada  in  the  301s,  and 
died  in  i860.  For  many  years  he  was  in  the  grocery  and 
hotel  business,  and  though  active  in  politics  never  held  office 
himself.  When  Michael  J.  Corcoran  was  one  year  old  the 
family  moved  to  the  corner  of  Ohio  and  St.  Clair  streets. 
Michael  first  attended  the  Wilder  school,  corner  of  Ohio  and  La- 
Salle  streets,  where  many  of  our  prominent  men  received  their 
first  schooling.  He  then  took  a  course  at  St.  Mary's  of  the 
Lake  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  went  to  learn  the  machinist's 
trade  with  S.  E.  Good  &  Co..  at  the  corner  of  North  Water  and 
LaSalle  streets,  subsequently  buying  an  interest  in  the  shop. 
Soon  after  this,  he,  in  company  with  his  brother,  John  T. 
Corcoran,  took  charge  of  the  old  Hatch  house,  located  at  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS. 


533 


corner  of  Wells  and  Kinzie  streets,  adjoining  the  Chicago  and 
Northwestern  Railroad  depot.  The  Hatch  house  speedily  be- 
came noted  as  the  principal  political  headquarters  in  the  city,  and 
here  gathered  such  old  time  politicians  as  "Uncle"  Dan  O'Hara, 
Phil  Conley,  "Long  John"  Wentworth,  David  Thornton,  Tom 
Foley,  and  even  some  of  the  younger  race,  including  Frank 
Agnew,  Miles  Kehoe,  John  Crawford,  William  Devine  and 
others.  The  Hatch  house  adherents  became  a  distinct  and 
powerful  factor  in  politics,  and  their  influence  extended  to  the 
control  of  conventions  and  the  election  of  many  of  the  chief 
municipal  and  county  officers.  The  original  Hatch  house  was  a 
three  story  and  basement  frame  structure,  named  after  its  builder, 
who  sold  it  to  James  Howe,  from  whom  it  was  bought  by  John 
T.  Corcoran  in  1859.  When  the  Wells  street  viaduct  was  built 
the  Corcorans  raised  the  hotel  and  faced  it  with  brick  at  a  cost 
of  about  $25,000,  making  it  a  handsome  and  commodious  house 
of  134  rooms.  It  then  became  a  more  popular  headquarters 
than  ever,  and  so  continued  until  it  was  destroyed  in  the  fire  of 
1871.  The  Corcoran  brothers  set  to  work  immediately  and  re- 
built on  the  same  site,  but  on  a  smaller  scale.  The  new  Hatch 
house  was  the  first  building  erected  after  the  fire,  and  like  its 
predecessor  it  was  known  as  the  great  political  headquarters.  It 
was  sold  to  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railrcad  in  "the  fall  of 
1876  and  was  torn  down.  Michael  J.  Corcoran  first  became 
active  in  the  politics  of  the  old  Twentieth  ward,  the  first  real 
work  done  by  him  being  to  circulate  tickets  for  Aid.  Edward 
Keogh,  who  was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  Every  spring  and 
fall  since  Mr.  Corcoran  may  be  seen  at  the  polls  with  a  bunch 
of  tickets  for  his  favorite  candidate  in  his  hand.  During  the 
Greeley  campaign  he  induced  his  brother,  John  T.  Corcoran,  to 
run  for  Alderman  against  Gus  Busse,  a  German  Republican, 
and  although  the  ward  was  strongly  Republican,  John  T.  was 
elected  by  900  majority.  At  the  expiration  of  his  first  term  he 
ran  against  James  Kirk  and  defeated  him  by  400  majority.  His 
second  term  was  cut  short  six  months  by  the  adoption  of  the 
new  charter,  under  which  Mayor  Colvin  held  over.  He  was  a 
popular  man  ;  an  able  representative  in  the  Council,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1879,  that  body  adopted  resolutions  eu- 
logizing his  memory,  which  are  given  elsewhere.  While  they 
made  and  unmade  mayors  and  many  county  and  town  officials 
John  T.  and  Michael  J.  Corcoran  never  sought  or  held  office 
themselves,  except  the  two  terms  the  former  held  in  the  Council. 
M.  J.  Corcoran    has  often  been  urged  by  his  friends  to  become  a 


534  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

candidate  for  Alderman  ;  for  County  Commissioner  ;  for  City 
or  County  Treasurer,  and  for  Congress,  but  he  has  invariably 
refused  to  allow  the  use  of  his  name.  He  maintains  that  he  is 
tired  of  politics  and  would  never  interest  himself  in  campaigns 
except  for  friends,  who  ask  his  services  and  whom  he  can  not 
refuse.  Leading  candidates  always  seek  his  friendship  and  in- 
fluence. He  has  been  a  member  of  the  City  and  County 
Central  Committees  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years ;  a  delegate  in 
nearly  every  local  and  state  convention,  Chairman  of  the  North 
Town  Convention,  an  alternate  delegate  in  the  National  Con- 
vention of  1884,  and  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Cook  County 
Democratic  Club.  On  account  of  his  faculty  of  gathering 
political  strength  and  his  facility  in  organizing,  Mr.  Corcoran 
has  often  been  compared  to  the  late  John  Kelly,  of  New  York, 
and  by  many  of  his  friends  he  has  been  dubbed  the  "Sachem." 
He  is  genial  in  disposition,  weighs  240  pounds,  and  is  five  feet 
eight  inches  in  height. 


GEORGE  MILLS  ROGERS. 

George  Mills  Rogers,  City  Prosecuting  Attorney,  is  the  son 
of  the  Hon.  John  G.  Rogers,  now  serving  his  fourth  term  as 
Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  county.  Mr.  Rogers  was 
born  April  16,  1854,  in  Glasgow,  Ky.,  which  was  also  the  birth- 
place of  his  father.  Chicago  has  been  his  home  since  1857, 
when  his  father  removed  here  with  his  family.  He  received  his 
early  education  in  the  public  schools  of  Chicago,  and  later  en- 
tered on  a  course  of  study  at  the  Chicago  University.  In  1872 
he  entered  the  Freshman  class  of  Yale  College,  graduating  in 
1876.  After  completing  his  classical  studies  he  entered  the  of- 
fice of  Messrs.  Crawford  &  McConnell  and  began  the  study  of 
the  law,  which  he  had  chosen  as  his  profession.  At  the  same 
time  he  attended  the  Union  College  of  Law,  from  which  he  reg- 
ularly graduated,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  June,  1878. 
Mr.  Rogers  then  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  McConnell, 
Raymond  &  Rogers,  and  upon  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Henry  W. 
Raymond  the  firm  became  McConnell  &  Rogers. 

From  boyhood  Mr.  Rogers  has  been  a  Democrat,  and  has 
always  taken  great  interest  in  political  affairs.  In  March,  1083, 
he  became  a  member  of  the  Citizens'  Association  and  served  as 
its  attorney  until  January,  1885,  when  he  was  appointed  Assis- 
tant City  Attorney.  He  served  in  this  capacity  until  June  1, 
1885.      In  February,  1886,  he  received  the  appointment  of  City 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  535 

Prosecuting  Attorney,  which  position  he  still  holds.  In  1880 
Mr.  Rogers  was  a  candidate  on  the  Democratic  ticket  for  the 
State  Senate  from  the  Fourth  Senatorial  district,  and  though  de- 
feated, he  largely  reduced  the  usual  Republican  majority.  In 
1882  he  was  induced  to  fill  a  vacancy  on  the  Democratic  ticket, 
becoming  a  candidate  for  Assessor  of  the  West  Town.  He  was 
defeated  by  100  votes  by  Pleasant  Amick,  who  had  been  the  in- 
cumbent for  several  terms. 

Mr.  Rogers  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Club,  the  Cook 
County  Club  and 'the  Iroquois  Club.  Of  the  latter  club  he  was 
chosen  Vice-President  at  the  first  election  of  officers.  He  was 
once  Vice-President  of  the  Cook  County  Democratic  Committee, 
and  is  now  a  member  of  the  Naturalization  Committee  of  the 
Cook  County  Club. 

Mr.  Rogers  has  one  brother,  Henry,  and  two  sisters,  Sarah, 
wife  of  S.  P.  McConnell,  Esq.,  and  Julia,  residing  in  Chicago. 
He  was  married  June  3,  1884,  to  Miss  Philippa  Howe  Anthon, 
of  New  York  City.  Mrs.  Rogers  is  the  daughter  of  the  late 
Philip  Howe  Anthon,  and  a  niece  of  the  late  Prof.  Charles 
Anthon.  of  Columbia  College,  New  York. 


CANUTE  R.  MATSON. 

Canute  R.  Matson  was  born  near  Bergen,  Norway,  April 
9,  1843;  his  father  was  Rognald  Matson  a  farmer,  and  his  mother, 
Gertrude  (Johnson)  Matson.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
with  his  parents  in  1849,  anc^  they  settled  in  the  town  of  La- 
Grange,  Walworth  county,  Wisconsin,  subsequently  removing 
to  Dane  county.  Young  Matson  first  attended  the  public 
school  at  Palmyra,  and  upon  the  removal  of  his  parents  to  Dane 
county  he  worked  with  his  father  in  clearing  the  farm  in  the 
new  country,  attending  school  in  the  winter.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  attended  Albion  academy.  In  i860  he  began  a  course 
at  Milton  college  and  was  there  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war. 
Becoming  imbued  with  the  war  spirit  and  feeling  that  the  country 
needed  his  services  he  enlisted  in  Company  K,  Thirteenth  Wis- 
consin Volunteers,  August  19,  1861,  and  after  the  necessary 
drill  in  camp  he  was  sent  in  the  following  January  with  his  regi- 
ment to  Kansas,  there  to  unite  with  General  Jim  Lane's  expedi- 
tion to  New  Mexico.  The  expedition  being  abandoned  his 
regiment  was  ordered  down  the  Mississippi  in  the  summer  of 
1862  to  join  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  he  served  through 


53<>  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

the  Southwest  campaign,  going  with  Stanley's  division  to  Texas 
in  1865,  and  there  being  mustered  out  in  December  of  that  year. 
Returning  north  he  located  in  Chicago  in  1866  and  sought  to  fit 
himself  for  commercial  pursuits  by  taking  a  course  at  Eastman's 
Commercial  college,  where  there  was  a  large  attendance  of  ex- 
soldiers  who  were  seeking  to  complete  the  education  that  had 
been  interrupted  by  their  enlistment  in  the  service  of  their 
country.  Upon  leaving  the  college  Mr.  Matson  kept  books  for 
a  coal  firm  for  a  season  and  then  secured  a  position  in  the  post- 
office  under  Postmaster  Samuel  L.  Hoard.  In  1869  he  was 
nominated  on  the  "People's"  ticket  for  Clerk  of  the  Police  Court ; 
was  elected  by  a  large  majority  and  was  re-nominated  on  the 
"Fire  Proof"  ticket  and  re-elected  by  an  increased  majority  in 
1871.  In  1875  he  was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  by  the 
Governor  of  the  state,  and  re-appointed  at  the  expiration  of  his 
term.  In  1880  he  was  elected  Coroner  over  John  H.  Colvin,  a 
well  known  and  popular  Democrat,  by  a  majority  greater  than 
that  received  by  any  other  candidate  on  the  Republican  ticket, 
and  leading  the  presidential  candidate,  Garfield,  by  several 
hundred  votes.  After  serving  two  years  as  Coroner,  during 
which  time  he  made  a  splendid  record  for  efficiency,  he  accepted 
the  office  of  Chief  Deputy  Sheriff  under  Sheriff  Seth  Hanchett, 
in  December,  1882.  This  office  he  filled  in  a  manner  eminently 
satisfactory  to  the  public  and  his  party,  and  so  well  known 
and  popular  had  he  become,  and  it  having  been  demonstrated 
that  he  was  a  very  strong  man  before  the  people,  his  party 
recognized  these  qualifications  by  nominating  him  for  Sheriff 
of  Cook  county  in  the  County  convention  in  September,  1886. 
Mr.  Matson  possesses  a  rugged  and  striking  physique,  a  genial 
disposition  and  has  many  sterling  traits  of  character  which 
gain  and  hold  him  the  friends  who  have  again  rallied  to  his 
support  in  the  most  important  canvass  he  has  yet  undertaken. 
Mr.  Matson  has  been  twice  married  ;  the  first  time  in  1868  to 
Miss  Mary  Newton  of  Chicago,  who  died  subsequently,  and 
again  December  13,  1876,  to  Miss  Isabella  Andrewson,  of  La 
Salle  county,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  O.  Andrewson,  who  came 
to  this  country  in  1837,  and  became  noted  as  one  of  the  pio- 
neer preachers  of  his  nationality.  He  organized  the  First  Nor- 
wegian church  in  this  city,  and  others  in  Wisconsin,  Illinois  and 
Iowa,  and  was  president  of  the  Synod  when  he  died  in  1885. 
C.  R.  Matson  is  the  father  of  four  children,  the  eldest  nine  years 
of  age,  and  the  youngest,  a  daughter,  born  the  night  following 
his  nomination  for  Sheriff. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  537 

EGBERT  JAMIESON. 

Hon.  Egbert  Jamieson  was  born  April  29,  1844,  in  Castle- 
ton,  Rutland  county,  Vermont.  His  father,  Dr.  Egbert  Jamie- 
son,  was  a  practicing  physician  and  surgeon  of  the  old  school,  a 
graduate  of  the  Castleton  Medical  College.  His  mother,  Caro- 
line M.  (Woodward)  Jamieson,  was  born  in  Castleton,  and  was 
the  daughter  of  Dr.  Theodore  Woodward,  President  of  the 
Castleton  Medical  College.  She  now  resides  in  Chicago.  Dr. 
Egbert  Jamieson  served  as  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Navy. 
He  removed  to  Racine,  Wis.,  with  his  family  about  1849,  an<^ 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  joined  the  First  Wisconsin  Regi- 
ment as  surgeon,  and  served  at  the  front.  He  died  after  the 
battle  of  Murfreesboro,  where  he  was  surgeon  in  charge  of  the 
hospital.  Egbert  Jamieson  attended  the  Racine  public  schools, 
under  the  tuition  of  Col.  John  G.  McMynn,  and  next  took  a 
course  at  Racine  College  under  Dr.  Roswell  Park.  He  started 
out  in  life  as  a  journalist,  and  held  an  editorial  position  on  the 
staff  of  the  Daily  Milwaukee  News,  under  George  H.  Paul. 
His  chosen  profession,  however,  was  the  law,  and  he  soon  re- 
turned to  Racine  and  began  to  read  law  with  Sanders  and  Ladd. 
In  March,  1864,  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  entered  the  law  office 
of  E.  S.  Smith,  and  after  three  years  of  study  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  and  formed  a  co-partnership  with  Judge  James  H. 
Knowlton,  which  continued  until  the  great  fire  of  1871  cleaned 
out  the  firm.  After  the  fire  he  remained  in  practice  alone  for 
a  year,  and  then  formed  a  co-partnership  with  the  late  Emery 
Storrs,  which  continued  until  he  was  elected  City  Attorney  in 
1873.  During  his  term  as  city  attorney  he  earned  a  splendid 
record  by  successfully  defending  many  damage  suits  brought 
against  the  city,  and  he  played  an  important  part  in  the  troublous 
times  at  the  close  of  Mayor  Colvin's  administration.  When 
his  term  as  City  Attorney  had  expired  he  was  retained  by 
Mayor  Colvin  and  Comptroller  S.  S.  Hayes  as  their  counsel  in 
the  celebrated  Hoyne-Colvin  contest.  Associated  with  him  for 
a  time  were  W.  C.  Goudy  and  Judge  C.  Beckwith,  but  he 
finished  the  case  alone,  and  secured  a  verdict  in  the  Circuit 
Court  before  the  full  bench  in  favor  of  his  clients,  and  the  ad- 
ministration under  this  decision  served  its  full  term  out.  In  1876 
he  was  made  the  nominee  of  the  Democratic  County  convention 
for  State's  Attorney,  but  was  defeated,  and,-  as  is  claimed,  was 
"counted  out,"  being  made  the  victim  of  influences  at  work  in 
the  interest  of  certain   County  Commissioners    then   under   in- 


538  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

dictment  for  malfeasance  in  office.  Since  that  period  Mr. 
Jamieson  has  been  occupied  with  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion He  has  frequently  been  brought  forward  as  a  well  qualified 
candidate  for  the  bench,  and  in  the  summer  of  1886  received 
prominence  as  an  available  man  for  United  States  District  At- 
torney. September  15,  1886,  he  was  nominated  by  acclamation 
by  the  Democratic  County  convention  for  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court,  was  indorsed  by  the  United  Labor  Party  in  convention 
October  4,  and  by  the  Cook  County  Labor  League  in  conven- 
tion October  11.  Mr.  Jamieson  is  energetic,  able  and  popular. 
He  was  married  December  24,  1868,  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Daniels,  of 
Chicago,  daughter  of  Hon.  William  Y.  Daniels. 


JOSEPH   M.  WEBER. 

Joseph  M.  Weber,  representative  in  the  City  Council  from 
the  Seventh  ward,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  May  14, 
1853.  His  father,  Adam  Weber,  and  his  mother  were  natives 
of  Rhine,  Bavaria,  who  came  to  the  United  States  in  1848,  locat- 
ing in  Brooklyn.  They  came  to  Chicago  in  1856.  Joseph  M. 
Weber  attended  the  Holy  Family  parochial  school  for  twelve 
years  and  then  attended  the  Foster  public  school,  and  finally 
took  a  course  at  Dyrenfurth's  business  college.  When  thirteen 
years  old  he  lost  his  left  hand  by  the  accidental  discharge  of  a 
pistol  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  He  first  worked  in  an  upholster- 
ing establishment;  in  1871  was  messenger  for  the  German 
National  Bank;  next  became  bookkeeper  for  the  commission  firm 
of  Wahl  &  Jaeger,  afterward  Philip  Jaeger,  where  he  remained 
eleven  years.  In  1882  he  established  a  manufactory  of  house 
mouldings  at  the  corner  of  Twenty-second  and  Laflin  streets, 
but  finding  himself  not  adapted  to  the  business  gave  it  up  after 
six  months.  In  the  fall  of  1883  he  engaged  in  the  wholesale 
meat  commission  business  at  48  and  50  West  Jackson  street, 
where  he  still  conducts  a  profitable  business.  Mr.  Weber  lives 
at  400  Maxwell  street,  and  has  been  a  continuous  resident  of 
the  street  for  twenty-eight  years.  He  has  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  the  people  of  his  ward  ;  has  attended  closely  to  their 
interests  in  the  Council,  and  has  been  mentioned  prominently  for 
Senator  and  Representative  in  the  Legislature  at  Springfield. 
He  was  the  first  Republican  elected  in  the  ward  for  ten  years, 
defeating  John  Riordan,  the  Democratic  candidate  in  April, 
1885,  by  a  majority  of  167  votes. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  539 

A.  M.  JONES. 

Alfred  Miles  Jones,  Chairman  of  the  Illinois  Republican 
State  Central  Committee,  was  born  Februarys,  1837,  in  New 
Durham,  Strafford  county.  New  Hampshire.  His  father,  Alfred 
S.  Jones,  and  mother,  Rebecca  (Miles)  Jones,  were  natives  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  his  father  was  a  farmer.  They  moved 
from  New  Durham  to  Rutland,  Vt.,  and  in  1846  came  west, 
settling  in  the  town  of  Hebron,  McHenry  county;  removing 
thence  to  Warren,  Jo  Daviess  county,  in  1857.  Alfred  M.  at- 
tended the  public  school  in  Rutland,  district  school  in  McHenry 
county,  and  afterward  took  a  course  at  Kimball's  private  school 
at  Rockford,  111.,  a  celebrated  school  in  its  day.  Subsequently 
he  opened  a  jewelry  and  bookstore  at  Warren  ;  next  became  a 
dealer  in  farm  machinery,  and  finally  established  a  loan  and  col- 
lection office.  In  1862  he  was  elected  Coroner  of  Jo  Daviess 
county,  and  after  serving  his  term  out  was  appointed  Deputy 
Sheriff.  He  always  took  an  active  interest  in  politics,  and  in 
company  with  Jacob  Fossett,  now  County  Judge,  William  Spens- 
ley,  afterward  County  Judge,  Capt.  D.  W.  Corey  and  others, 
was  generally  found  opposed  to  Elihu  B.  Washburne  in  the  poli- 
tics of  his  district.  He  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  Gen.  Grant 
in  1864  and  1868,  and  in  every  campaign  conducted  .in  his  in- 
terest. In  1866  he  was  elected  Chairman  of  the  Jo  Daviess 
County  Central  Committee ;  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in 
1872  and  again  in  1874,  was  elected  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
State  Central  Committee  in  1880.  and  re-elected  Chairman  of 
each  new  committee  since.  For  upward  of  twenty  years  he  has 
been  an  influential  delegate  in  county,  congressional  and  state 
conventions,  and  his  reputation  as  an  active  organizer  and  an 
able  and  experienced  promoter  of  the  interests  of  his  party  ex- 
tends throughout  the  country.  His  popular  political  sobriquet  is 
"  Long ''  Jones,  derived  from  a  generous  stature.  He  was  a 
member  for  two  terms  and  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Penitentiary 
Commissioners,  was  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue  for  the 
Galena  district  under  the  Hayes  administration,  and  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Chicago  district  and  appointed  United  States  Mar- 
shal of  the  Northern  District  of  Illinois  by  President  Garfield. 
While  serving  as  Marshal  he  took  an  active  part  in  ferreting  out 
the  Chicago  election  frauds  and  in  the  prosecution  of  Mackin, 
Gallagher  and  Gleason.  In  the  great  Republican  National  con- 
vention of  1880  he  was  a  conspicuous  marshal  of  the  historic 
"Old  Guard,"  or  Grant  "306;"  in  1884  an  active  supporter  of  Gen. 


540  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Logan  for  the  presidency,  and  in  the  famous  contest  of  the  latter 
for  election  to  the  United  States  Senate  he  was  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal organizers  of  the  "  Logan  103."  While  Mr.  Jones  retains 
his  residence  at  Warren  his  business  keeps  him  a  greater  part  of 
the  time  in  Chicago  ;  he  being  now  the  general  manager  of  the 
Bethesda  Mineral  Springs  Company.  Mr.  Jones  was  married 
in  1857  to  Miss  Emeline  E.  Wright,  of  Lynn,  Wis.,  and  is  the 
father  of  two  children  ;  a  daughter  aged  twenty-three,  and  a 
son  seventeen  years  of  age. 


SETH   F.   HANCHETT. 

Seth  Frank  Hanchett,  Sheriff  of  Cook  county  from  18S2 
to  1886,  was  born  April  30,  1841,  in  Chautauqua  county,  New 
York.  His  father,  Joseph  Cottrell  Hanchett,  was  a  native  of 
New  York  and  a  farmer,  and  his  mother,  Sabrina  (Howard) 
Hanchett,  was  born  in  Vermont.  Seth  F.  lived  on  his  father's 
farm  until  he  was  fifteen  years  old  and  attended  the  district 
schools.  In  1856  he  came  to  Chicago,  but  soon  went  to  Mc- 
Henry  county  where  he  was  employed,  and  attended  school  for 
several  winters.  In  i860  he  returned  to  Chicago  and  entered 
the  employ  of  the  North  Chicago  City  Railway  Company.  In  the 
fall  of  1 861,  while  yet  a  minor,  he  enlisted  in  Company  M,  Nine- 
teenth Illinois  Cavalry,  and  served  in  this  company  a  year  and  a 
half  when  he  contracted  fever  and  was  discharged  as  an  invalid. 
J4e  soon  recovered  his  strength  and  returned  to  his  old  home,  and 
re-enlisted  in  the  Fifteenth  New  York  Cavalry  and  served  at  the 
front  in  Virginia,  the  Shenandoah  valley,  under  Sigel  and  Hunter, 
and  in  Custer's  Division,  Sheridan's  Cavalry  Corps,  and  at  the 
battle  of  Five  Forks,  eight  days  before  the  surrender  of  Lee,  his 
left  arm  was  blown  off  at  the  elbow,  and  its  amputation  at  the 
shoulder  was  necessitated.  He  was  mustered  out  April  1,  1865, 
and  returned  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in  business  for  a  year  ; 
was  superintendent  of  the  Soldiers'  Home  for  a  year,  and  in 
1867  was  appointed  bailiff  in  the  County  Court,  under  Sheriff 
John  L.  Beveridge,  and  served  under  four  successive  sheriff's 
until  Sheriff  Charles  Kern  was  elected  in  the  fall  of  1876.  He 
again  engaged  in  business  for  himself,  and  in  the  fall  of  1877 
was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Probate  Court  and  administered  the  af- 
fairs of  that  important  office  acceptably  to  the  public  for  a  period 
of  five  years.  In  the  fall  of  1882  he  was  nominated  for  Sheriff 
of  Cook  county  by  the  Republican  County  convention,  and  was 
the  successful  candidate  in  a  heated  campaign,  defeating  his  op- 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  54 1 

ponent,  William  J.  McGarigle,  by  a  majority  of  4,385  votes. 
Sheriff  Hanchett  was  dependent  upon  his  own  efforts  from  boy- 
hood, and  won  distinction  by  energy  and  faithfulness.  He  ad- 
ministered the  important  office  of  Sheriff  with  ability  and  satis- 
faction to  the  public.  He  was  married  in  1867  to  Miss  Lizzie 
L.  Atkins,  of  Chicago,  and  has  three  children — Frank  S.  Han- 
chett, aged  18  ;  Seth  R.,  aged  14,  and  Bessie,  aged  5  years. 


EDWARD  P.  BURKE. 


Edward  P.  Burke,  Representative  in  the  City  Council  for 
three  terms  from  the  Fifth  ward,  was  born  in  Madison,  Jeffer- 
son county,  Indiana,  January  17,  1848.  His  father,  John  Burke, 
and  mother,  Mary  (Fallon)  Burke,  were  born  in  Roscommon 
county,  Ireland,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1833,  settling 
in  Indiana,  coming  to  Chicago  in  1870,  returning  to  Indiana  in 
1872,  and  returning  again  to  Chicago  in  1880.  In  the  latter  year 
his  father  died,  and  his  mother  died  in  188 1.  After  attending 
school  until  his  sixteenth  year  Edward  P.  Burke  came  to  Chicago 
in  1864,  and  pursued  the  trade  of  a  stonecutter,  in  which  he 
became  an  expert,  and  was  elected  President  of  the  Stone- 
cutters' Association.  In  1874  he  abandoned  stone  cutting, 
and  accepted  the  position  of  foreman  for  Fowlef  Brothers, 
at  the  Union  Stock  Yards,  where  he  remained  nine  years. 
He  then  engaged  for  a  time  in  business  for  himself,  and 
next  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  McKeon,  Kelly  &  Burke, 
cut  stone  contractors,  having  extensive  yards  on  Twenty-first 
street,  near  Archer  avenue.  Mr.  Burke  has  resided  almost  ex- 
clusively in  the  Fifth  ward  since  coming  to  Chicago,  and  his 
popularity  is  attested  by  three  successive  elections  to  the  Coun- 
cil. In  1880  he  defeated  George  Turney,  Independent  Demo- 
crat, and  Thomas  Ryan,  receiving  a  plurality  of  nearly  600 
votes;  in  1882  he  defeated  Edward  O'Hare,  Independent  Demo- 
crat, and  Fred  Aye,  Republican,  by  a  plurality  of  nearly  1,400 
votes;  and  in  1884,  in  a  close  and  exciting  contest,  defeated 
Charles  Hillock  by  six  votes,  in  a  total  of  5,584.  In  1886  he 
again  contested  the  ward  with  Mr.  Hillock,  and  was  defeated  by 
the  latter.  In  September,  1886,  Mr.  Burke  was  nominated  for 
State  Senator  by  the  Democrats  of  his  district,  and  also  received 
the  indorsement  of  the  Cook  County  Labor  League.  He  was 
married  in  June,  1873,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  McKeon,  and  has  five 
children  living,  the  eldest  twelve  years  of  age,  and  the  youngest 
two  years. 


542  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

MICHAEL    B.  BAILEY. 

Michael  B.  Bailey,  Superintendent  of  Repairs  of  the  Chicago 
Custom  House,  was  born  in  County  Limerick,  Ireland,  April  16, 
1837.  His  father,  Henry  Bailey,  whose  business  was  that  of  a 
blacksmith,  died  about  1846,  and  in  1851  Michael,  with  a  party 
of  friends  came  to  the  United  States,  locating  in  Chicago.  The 
rest  of  the  family  came  later,  and  his  mother  died  in  Chicago 
some  years  ago.  He  received  some  schooling  in  Ireland,  and  in 
Chicago  carried  on  his  studies  and  perfected  his  education  at  the 
night  schools.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  mason  and  plasterer 
with  the  firm  of  James  H.  Ward  &  Bro.,  with  whom  he  remained 
for  five  years.  In  1856  he  began  the  business  of  a  contractor 
and  builder  on  his  own  account,  which  he  has  followed  nearly 
ever  since.  Mr.  Bailey  may  rightly  be  called  one  of  the  builders 
of  Chicago.  He  built  the  Father  Waldron  school  on  Clark 
street ;  the  Washington  school  on  Morgan  street  ;  the  Empire 
block  on  LaSalle  street ;  the  present  county  jail ;  the  H.  A.  Cohn 
building  on  Lake  street ;  the  McCormick  Block  on  Lake  street ; 
the  Thurman  building,  and  scores  of  buildings  and  residences 
throughout  the  entire  city.  In  1857  he  went  to  Keokuk,  Iowa, 
to  repair  the  Courthouse,  and  then  went  to  St.  Joseph,  Mo., 
where  he  erected  several  of  the  more  important  buildings  and 
residences.  In  1858  he  left  St.  Joseph  for  Pike's  Peak,  and  in 
1859  ne  went  to  New  Orleans.  He  worked  as  a  mechanic  on  the 
plantation  of  Gen.  Bailey,  on  the  Red  River,  until  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war,  when  he  went  to  New  Orleans  and  removed  with 
his  family  to  Memphis,  Tenn.  He  was  compelled,  with  many  of 
the  citizens  of  Memphis,  to  assist  in  the  transportation  of  Gen. 
Price's  troops  to  the  field  of  Shiloh.  After  the  capture  of  Mem- 
phis by  the  Union  army  in  1862,  he  returned  to  Chicago  and 
resumed  his  old  business  of  a  builder.  Mr.  Bailey  has  always 
been  an  ardent  Democrat,  and  has  been  prominently  known  in 
political  circles  for  many  years.  In  1870  he  was  indorsed  by  the 
Republicans  and  elected  Alderman  of  the  old  Eighth  ward,  over 
J.  H.  Hildreth.  In  1872  he  was  re-elected  Alderman  of  the 
Eighth  ward  on  the  Greeley  ticket.  After  the  great  fire  he 
helped  to  pass  the  ordinance  extending  the  fire  limits,  and  in 
1874  he  attempted  to  secure  the  passage  of  an  act  by  the  Legis- 
lature providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  Building  Commissioner 
for  the  city  of  Chicago.  Failing  in  this,  he  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  the  adoption  of  the  charter  of  1872,  under  which,  in 
1874,  the  office  of  Building  Inspector  was  created.  In  1875  ne 
was  appointed  by  Mayor  Colvin  the  first  Superintendent  of  Build- 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  543 

ings,  which  position  he  held  until  the  election  of  Mayor  Heath, 
when  he  resigned.  Mr.  Bailey  took  an  active  part  in  public 
affairs  during  some  of  the  most  noted  periods  of  the  city's  his- 
tory;  his  judgment  was  always  relied  upon  in  political  matters 
and  he  possesses  a  valuable  fund  of  anecdote  and  reminiscence 
about  public  men.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Democratic  State 
Central  Committee  from  1878  to  1882.  In  May,  1885,  he  was 
appointed  Superintendent  of  Repairs  of  the  Custom  House,  which 
position  he  still  retains. 

He  was  married  in  Quincy,  Illinois,  in  1859  to  Miss  Ellen 
Dignen.  They  have  eight  children,  five  of  whom  are  grown  ; 
Henry  L.,  John  R.,  George  J.,  Mary  E.,  Katherine,  Matilda, 
Nellie,  and  Gertrude. 


HALYOR  S.  PAULSEN. 

Halvor  S.  Paulsen,  ex-West  Town  Supervisor,  is  well 
known  in  political  circles  in  Chicago,  where  he  has  resided  for 
more  then  twenty  years.  Mr.  Paulsen  was  born  in  Grue  Salor, 
Norway,  in  1848.  His  father,  Peter  Paulsen,  died  when  Halvor 
was  but  nine  years  of  age,  leaving  a  family  of  eight  children  in 
very  good  financial  circumstances.  He  received  a  good  educa- 
tion in  Norway,  and  in  1864  emigrated  alone  to  America,  coming 
direct  to  Chicago,  where  some  of  his  family  were  already  located. 
In  Chicago  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  cooper  with  his  brothers, 
who  were  coopers.  He  followed  coopering  for  two  years  and 
then  became  a  clerk  for  his  uncle,  Martin  Paulsen,  in  the  hard- 
ware business,  where  he  learned  the  tinner's  trade.  In  1868  and 
1869  he  acquired  a  commercial  education  at  Bryant  and  Strat- 
ton's  Business  College.  In  the  spring  of  1871  he  engaged  with 
his  brother  Ole  Paulsen,  in  the  hardware  business  under  the  style 
of  H.  S.  Paulsen  &  Bro.,  at  No.  233  North  Wells  street.  In  the 
great  fire  of  the  following  October  they  were  burned  out.  losing 
not  only  all  their  savings  but  all  they  had  brought  with  them 
from  Norway.  After  the  fire  they  started  again  in  the  same 
business  at  149  W.  Indiana  street.  In  1882  Mr.  Paulsen  bought 
out  the  interest  of  his  brother  and  has  since  carried  on  the  busi- 
ness alone.  For  eight  years  he  has  been  located  at  150  and  152 
West  Indiana  street.  He  has  one  brother  and  one  sister  in  Chi- 
cago, the  most  of  his  family  residing  at  Grinnell,  Iowa.  Mr. 
Paulsen  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  politics  for  several  years, 
and  has  always  been  a  pronounced  Republican.  In  the  spring  of 
7885   he  was  the   Republican   candidate  for    Supervisor   of  the 


544  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

West  Town,  and  was  elected  by  2,400  majority,  while  his  pre- 
decessor had  been  elected  on  the  Democratic  ticket  by  a 
majority  of  8,000.  While  Mr.  Paulsen  was  Supervisor,  an  effort 
was  made  to  have  him  compromise  with  the  seven  ex-Collectors 
of  the  West  Town  who  had  retained  two  percent,  of  their  collec- 
tions as  a  commission.  This  he  declined  to  do/  hoping  for  a 
decision  in  the  long-delayed  cases  before  the  Supreme  Court. 
After  a  fruitless  correspondence  with  the  Clerk  of  the  court,  he 
employed  ex-Gov.  John  M.  Hamilton  as  an  attorney  to  see  all 
the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  urge  the  importance  of 
an  immediate  decision.  By  this  action  decision  was  obtained, 
ordering  the  two  per  cent,  to  be  turned  over  to  the  West  Town 
Treasury;  the  compromisers  were  defeated,  and  $63,494  saved 
to  the  people. 

Mr.  Paulsen  was  married  in  Chicago  in  May,  1880,  to  Miss 
Lucy  F.  Jacobs,  of  Madison,  Wis.  They  have  one  child,  Blanche 
Pauline  Paulsen. 


DANIEL   SHEPARD. 


Daniel  Shepard,  Secretary  of  the  Illinois  Republican  State 
Central  Committee,  was  born  in  Aurora,  Cayuga  county,  New 
York,  November  13,  1835.  His  father,  Charles  E.  Shepard, 
and  his  mother,  Catherine  (Cuyler)  Shepard,  were  both  natives 
of  New  York  state.  His  father  was  a  lawyer,  as  was  also  his 
grandfather  on  both  the  paternal  and  maternal  sides.  He  first 
attended  the  public  schools  of  Aurora,  and  next  a  private  school 
at  Buffalo,  and  then  took  a  course  in  Hamilton  College,  New 
York,  graduating  therefrom  in  1855.  He  then  took  a  complete 
course  of  legal  studies  under  Prof.  Theodore  W.  Dwight,  in  the 
Columbia  Law  School,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1856.  He 
arrived  in  Chicago  January  1,  1858,  and  has  since  been  a  resi- 
dent of  the  city.  He  first  entered  the  law  office  of  Shumway, 
Waite  &  Town,  and  then  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Aleck 
F.  Stevenson,  which,  after  a  brief  period  he  terminated,  not  find- 
ing the  law  suitable  to  his  temperament  for  a  lifetime  profession. 
In  1868  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Republican  State  Central 
Committee,  and  was  elected  secretary  in  the  campaign  of  1870, 
and  re-elected  prior  to  every  campaign  since.  In  1869  he  was 
elected  Assistant  Clerk  of  the  Illinois  House  of  Representatives  ; 
in  1870  was  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  ; 
was  elected  Clerk  of  the  House  in  the  Twenty-seventh  and 
Twenty-eighth  General  Assemblies  ;  was  Secretary  of  the  Mili- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  545 

tary  Affairs  Committee  of  the  United  States  Senate  in  1874—5— 
6-7,  of  which  John  A.  Logan  was  chairman,  and  held  the  posi- 
tion of  Appointment  Clerk  in  the  Chicago  postoffice  during  the 
incumbency  of  Postmaster  Frank  W.  Palmer.  Always  a  staunch 
and  active  Republican  Mr.  Shepard's  great  ability  as  a  political 
organizer  and  manager  and  conductor  of  campaigns  has  been 
amply  proven  in  many  hard-fought  campaigns,  and  the  practical 
working  organization  and  invariable  success  of  the  Republican 
party  in  the  state  of  Illinois  is  due  in  a  great  measure  to  his  hard 
work,  superior  judgment,  and  intelligent  discrimination.  His 
methods  have  not  been  questionable,  and  his  reputation  for  able 
and  meritorious  service  to  the  cause  of  his  party  is  not  confined 
to  his  own  state  alone.  He  is  genial,  obliging  and  popular,  and 
readily  makes  friends  in  every  walk  of  life.  Mr.  Shepard  was 
united  in  marriage  in  1859  to  Miss  Harriet  A.  Scott  of  Oneida 
county,  New  York,  and  is  the  father  of  four  children  now  living. 


THOMAS  J.  CARNEY. 

Thomas  Joseph  Carney,  Alderman  of  the  Seventeenth  ward, 
was  born  in  Chicago  October  4,  1858,  on  North  Branch  street. 
His  father,  Thomas  Carney,  and  his  mother,  Sarah  Carney,  were 
both  born  in  County  Mayo,  Ireland,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  in  185  1,  coming  direct  to  Chicago.  Thomas  J.  first  at- 
tended the  Christian  Brothers'  school  in  connection  with  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Name,  on  Cass  street,  up  to  the  date  of  the 
great  fire.  He  then  attended  St.  Ignatius  College  for  three 
years;  next  went  to  the  Kinzie  public  school  on  Ohio  street  for 
two  years  ;  next  to  Bryant  and  Stratton's  Business  College,  and 
finally  took  a  course  at  Bourbonia  College  at  Kankakee,  111.  His 
first  business  venture  was  a  grocery  store,  which  he  successfully 
conducted  for  six  years  at  the  corner  of  Market  and  Illinois 
streets.  After  disposing  of  this  business  he  became  connected 
with  the  City  Fire  Department,  Engine  Company  No.  27;  and 
served  two  years  ;  then  two  and  a  half  years  on  the  police  force 
as  a  detective.  His  next  venture  was  in  the  flour  and  feed  and 
coal  business,  and  a  sample  room,  in  which  he  is  still  engaged. 
Aid.  Carney  has  always  been  active  in  the  politics  of  his  district. 
His  father,  Thomas  Carney,  is  an  old-line  Democrat,  who  was 
elected  to  the  City  Council  in  1868  and  served  three  consecutive 
terms.  Thomas  J.  Carney  took  the  field  as  an  independent  can- 
didate in  the  spring  of  1886  ;  was  indorsed  by  the  Republicans, 

35 


546  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

and  his  popularity  was  attested  by  the  fact  that  he  was  elected 
by  a  majority  of  147  votes  out  of  a  total  of  3,140,  defeating 
Charles  D.  Wells,  the  regular  Democratic  nominee.  He  is  the 
youngest  member  of  the  Council  of  1886-7,  and  an  able  repre- 
sentative of  the  interests  of  his  ward.  Aid.  Carney  was  married 
November  2,  1883,  to  Miss  May  Morris,  of  Chicago,  and  is  the 
father  of  two  children,  the  eldest  a  daughter,  aged  two  years,  and 
the  youngest  a  son,  Thomas,  born  shortly  after  the  close  of  the 
polls  on  election  day  in  April,  1886. 


CHARLES  W.  WOODMAN. 

Charles  Wolhart  Woodman  was  born  in  Schlesswig,  North- 
ern Denmark,  on  March  11,  1844.  He  attended  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  place  until  1857,  an<^  m^de  the  United 
States  his  adopted  country  in  1861.  For  a  period  of  ten  years, 
from  1857  to  1867,  he  followed  the  sea  as  a  sailor.  During  this 
service  he  crossed  the  equator  eight  times  and  visited  nearly 
every  important  port  in  the  world.  In  1862  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Arctic  expedition,  and  in  1864  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
Navy  at  Philadelphia,  serving  on  board  the  man-of-war  Monon- 
gahela.  After  his  discharge  from  the  navy  he  came  to  Chicago 
and  followed  the  lakes  as  a  sailor  for  two  years.  He  next  en- 
tered the  insurance  business  for  three  years,  and  in  1870  began 
the  study  of  the  law  in  the  office  of  James  L.  High;  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1872,  and  to  practice  in  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  in  1882.  In  1879  he  was  appointed  Prosecuting 
Attorney  in  the  lower  courts  of  Cook  county,  and  served  until 
1882,  when  he  was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  to  succeed  the 
Hon.  A.  L.  Morrison,  which  position  he  yet  holds.  Justice 
Woodman  has  been  a  resident  of  the  Second  Congressional  dis- 
trict since  1865,  and  in  his  various  positions  of  honor  and  trust 
has  demonstrated  abilities  of  a  high  order.  In  politics  he  has 
always  been  a  consistent  Republican,  and  for  several  years  was 
mentioned  prominently  as  a  candidate  for  Legislative  and  Con- 
gressional honors.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  County 
Central  Committee  for  three  years.  October  16,  1886,  he  was 
made  the  nominee  for  Congress  of  the  Second  district  Republi- 
can Convention,  and  subsequently  received  the  indorsement  of 
several  independent  organizations.  He  was  married  May  16, 
1867,  to  Miss  Cornelia  M.  Hamilton,  daughter  of  Prof.  James  E. 
Hamilton,  Instructor  of  French  in  the  University  of  Chicago, 
and  his  family  occupy  a  comfortable  home  at  No.  448  West  Fif- 
teenth street. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  547 

HON.   RICHARD  PRENDERGAST. 

Hon.  Richard  Prendergast,  Judge  of  the  County  Court  of 
Cook   county,  was  born    in    Ireland    November  8,    1854.       His 
father,  John   E.   Prendergast,  was  a  farmer  and  a  merchant,  and 
his  mother  Anne  (Judge)  Prendergast,  died  when   Richard  was 
eight  years  old.      He  came  to  the  United  States  with  his  father 
in   1864,  and  they  settled  at   La  Salle,    111.,  where   Richard  at- 
tended school  for  two  years  and  worked  in  a  store  during  vaca- 
tion.    From  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  depended  entirely  on  his 
own  efforts  for  his  education,  and  has  made  his  own  way  in  life. 
He  was  of  a  studious  turn  of  mind  and  was  well  read  at  an  early 
age.      In  1872   he  went  to   Montreal  and  attended  college  for  a 
period  of  two  years;  returned  to  Chicago  and  entered  St.  Igna- 
tius college  and  pursued  his  studies  for  another  year.     The  full 
course  in  this  institution  required  seven  or  eight  years,  yet  at  the 
end  of  a  year  he  graduated  second  in  a  class  whose  other  members 
had  all  studied  the  required  eight  years.      He  graduated  in  1876, 
receiving  the  degree  of  A.  B.     He  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge 
Moran  and  read  law  for  two  years,  and  acquired  a  very  complete 
knowledge  of  the  theoretical  and  practical  principles  of  the  law. 
During  a  portion  of  the  second  year  of  his  studies  he  attended 
the    Union  College  of  Law,  graduating  in    1878,  and*  receiving 
the   Horton   prize  for  the  best  essay  on  law,  his  subject  being 
"The  Law  of  the  Land.1'    In  lieu  of  the  two  years' course  in  the 
law  school,  as   required  by  the  rule  of  the   Supreme  Court,  he 
took  the  alternative  of  examination  by  the  Appellate  Court,  and 
was  rated  at  100  ;  the  highest  grade  ever  received  in  such  an  ex- 
amination at  that  time.      He  achieved  a  prominent  position  at 
the  bar  immediately  upon  his  admission,  and  secured   a  large 
clientage.       He   conducted   and   won    two   celebrated   contested 
election  cases,  those  of  Stauber  vs.  McGrath,  for  Alderman  of 
the  Fourteenth  ward,  and  M.  W.  Ryan  for  West  Town  Collector. 
In    18S2   he  was  made  the  nominee  for  County  Judge  by  the 
Democratic  County  convention  and  was  elected  over  his    Re- 
publican opponent,  C.  C.  Kohlsaat,  by  a  majority  of  1,177  votes, 
thus  becoming  the  youngest  judge  who  ever  occupied  the  bench 
in  Cook  county,  being  but  twenty-eight  years  of  age  on  the  clay 
of  his  election!      As  a  judge  he  attained  popularity  with  the  bar; 
his  rulings  were  ever  fair  and  just,  and  in  the  hearing  of  many 
noted  cases  he  gained  wide  approbation  for  quick  and  keen  in- 
sight  and   thorough  mastery   of    knotty  problems.       Especially 
was  he  commended  for  his  unbiased  judgment  in  the  celebrated 


548  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

mayoralty  election  contest  between  Sidney  Smith  and  Carter  H. 
Harrison.  During  his  first  term  he  effected  an  entire  reforma- 
tion of  the  treatment  and  care  of  the  insane  who  come  before 
the  County  Court.  He  was  renominated  by  acclamation  in  the 
Democratic  convention  of  1886,  and  was  indorsed  by  the  United 
Labor  and  Labor  League  Conventions.  Having  charge  as 
County  Judge  of  the  supervision  of  the  Board  of  Election 
Commissioners,  his  office  was  made  the  central  fight  of  the 
campaign,  yet  in  the  face  of  united  and  bitter  opposition  he  was 
re-elected  by  a  majority  of  over  13,000,  leading  the  two  Demo- 
cratic candidates  for  Judges  of  the  Superior  Court,  who  had  the 
United  Labor  and  Labor  League  indorsements,  by  5,000  and 
6,000  votes  respectively. 


HENRY  BEST. 


Henry  Best,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  county,  was 
born  near  the  corner  of  Indiana  avenue  and  Fourteenth  street, 
then  known  as  Weldon  Station,  December  22,  1848.  His  father, 
Matthias  Best,  was  born  in  Pfalz,  Bavaria,  and  came  to  Chicago 
from  Berlin,  Germany,  in  1841.  His  mother,  Annie  M.  (Homan) 
Best,  was  born  in  Hesse  Cassel  and  is  yet  living,  being  the 
oldest  German  speaking  resident  of  Chicago  ;  a  member  of  the 
German  "Old  Settlers''  Association  and  possessing  the  medal  of 
the  Association  presented  to  the  oldest  German  speaking  resident. 
Matthias  Best  established  the  first  lager  beer  brewery  in  Chicago, 
at  717  to  721  Indiana  avenue.  He  was  well  known  as  a  staunch 
Democrat  ;  a  personal  friend  and  ardent  supporter  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  for  the  Presidency.  He  was  the  father  of  seven  sons 
and  two  daughters,  Henry  Best  being  the  third  son.  Matthias 
Best  died  October  24,  1874,  aged  67  years. 

Henry  Best  was  first  employed  in  his  father's  brewery,  going 
to  work  at  3  A.  M.  and  going  to  school  at  8  A.  M.  and  returning 
to  work  until  late  at  night.  He  first  attended  Mrs.  Fox's  public 
school  in  1855,  then  the  only  one  south  of  Harrison  street  ;  next 
the  Mosely  school  in  1857  and  the  Haven  school  in  1861.  When 
the  war  broke  out  he  ran  away  from  home  and  enlisted  as  a 
drummer  boy  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fourth  Illinois  In- 
fantry, and  got  as  far  as  Cairo  when  his  father  overhauled  and 
brought  him  home.  When  seventeen  years  old  he  was  quite  an 
athlete  and  took  numerous  prizes  for  diving  and  swimming,  and 
in  1869  was  an  active  member  of  the  South  side  Turners.  In 
his   17th  year  he  engaged  with  T.  D.  Randall  in  the  commission 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  549 

business  at  State  and  Washington  streets,  and  remained  three 
years;  going  next  with  R.  H.  Countess  in  the  grocery  business 
and  remaining  one  year.  His  father  having  sold  out  his  brewery 
and  rented  his  building  to  J.  L.  Hobart  for  a  tobacco  manufact- 
ory, Henry  engaged  with  this  concern  as  shipping  clerk  and  in 
one  year  worked  his  way  up  to  foreman.  In  1872  he  was  waited 
on  by  a  committee  who  notified  him  of  his  nomination  on  the 
People's  ticket  for  Constable.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  taken  no 
interest  in  politics,  and  refused  the  nomination.  He  was  left  on 
the  ticket,  nevertheless,  and  was  elected  by  9,000  majority,  but 
did  not  serve  until  nearly  a  year  after.  He  then  made  his  head- 
quarters with  Justice  Haines  and  transacted  a  large  business.  In 
1876  he  was  re-elected  on  the  Republican  ticket  and  served  two 
years.  In  1878  he  was  appointed  bailiff  under  Sheriff  Hoffman, 
served  one  year  and  then  was  promoted  to  Clerk  of  the  Grand 
Jury.  In  1880  he  was  appointed  Deputy  Sheriff  under  Sheriff 
Mann,  and  served  two  years.  In  1882  he  was  a  candidate  for 
Coroner  against  C.  H.  Harris  of  his  own  ward,  and  carried  the 
ward  delegation,  and  his  friends  claimed  that  he  had  three  votes 
majority  in  the  convention,  but  the  nomination  was  awarded  to 
Harris  by  three  majority.  After  the  election  he  was  appointed 
Deputy  Sheriff  under  Sheriff  Hanchett  and  served  two  years,  and 
in  1884  was  made  the  Republican  nominee  for  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  receiving  215  votes  in  the  convention  and  defeating  Emil 
Hoechster,  Democrat,  in  the  election  by  7,676  votes,  receiving 
the  highest  majority  of  any  candidate  on  the  South  side  ;  carrying 
his  own  ward  by  2,992  votes  and  running  ahead  of  James  G.  Blaine 
in  the  country  towns.  His  term  expires  in  December,  1888.  Mr. 
Best  is  able,  energetic,  and  popular,  and  has  fulfilled  the  duties 
of  his  various  offices  in  a  manner  beyond  criticism.  While  serv- 
ing as  constable  he  did  a  great  amount  of  notable  detective 
work.  In  one  instance  he  seized  the  renowned  Cremona  of  the 
famous  violinist,  Remenyi,  and  carried  the  celebrated  Madame 
Voislowsky  diamond  case  to  successful  conclusion  in  1803.  Mr. 
Best  lived  in  the  place  of  his  birth  in  the  Second  ward  for  twenty- 
one  years,  and  has  been  a  resident  of  the  Fourth  ward  for  seven- 
teen years.  He  has  always  been  an  active  Republican  and  has 
elevated  himself  to  his  present  enviable  position  by  his  own 
efforts.  He  is  a  leading  member  of  the  Cook  County  Republican 
club;  was  Town  and  Senatorial  Committeeman,  and  also  City 
Central  Committeeman  for  two  years.  He  is  a  charter  member 
of  Court  Energy,  Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  and  Finan- 
cial Secretary  two  terms  ;  a  charter  member  of  Garfield   Lodge, 


550  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  and  held  the  office  of  Over- 
seer ;  a  member  of  Dearborn  Lodge,  310,  and  also  LaFayette 
Chapter  Blue  Lodge  Free  Masons  ;  and  of  Chevalier  Bayard 
Commandery  Knights  Templar.  He  was  married  April  7,  1870, 
to  Miss  Minnie  Myers,  who  was  born  in  New  York  and  came 
here  at  an  early  age,  and  they  have  two  sons  and  a  daughter, 
aged  15,  5  and  12  years  respectively. 


P.   BIRD  PRICE. 


P.  Bird  Price,  Chief  Grain  Inspector,  and  Secretary  of  the 
Cook  county  Republican  Central  Committee,  was  born  near 
Springfield,  Sangamon  county,  111.,  October  3,  1844.  His 
father,  Charles  W.  Price,  was  born  in  Kentucky  and  came  to 
Illinois  in  1832  ;  and  his  mother,  Caroline  E.  (Duncan)  Price, 
was  born  in  Illinois.  Before  his  majority,  Mr.  Price  attended 
the  district  schools  of  Sangamon  county,  and  in  1865  engaged 
in  the  drug  business  at  Springfield,  and  for  some  time  was  en- 
gaged in  the  same  business  in  Nebraska  City.  Returning  to 
Springfield  he  became  Secretary  of  the  Life  Association  of 
America,  and  was  also  for  a  time  chief  bookkeeper  in  the  Ridgely 
National  Bank.  He  located  in  Chicago  in  J 877,  and  became 
connected  with  the  grain  inspection  bureau,  where  he  has  re- 
mained ever  since,  except  from  July,  1883,  to  July,  1885,  when 
he  was  cashier  of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company,  and 
had  charge  of  the  office  business  of  the  Western  department  of 
the  company.  He  was  appointed  Chief  Grain  Inspector  Sep- 
tember 1,  1882  ;  reappointed  July  26,  1S85,  and  is  yet  serving. 
Mr.  Price  has  always  taken  an  active  interest  in  politics.  In 
1880  he  was  the  Acting  Secretary  of  the  Garfield  Campaign 
Executive  Committee,  and  has  been  Secretary  of  all  Republican 
campaign  committees  since,  except  in  1882.  He  has  bee-n  a 
member  of  and  Secretary  of  the  Cook  county  Republican  Cen- 
tral Committee  for  three  years,  and  has  rendered  his  party  much 
valuable  service  in  various  capacities.  The  great  success  attend- 
ing the  Republican  campaign  in  Cook  county,  in  the  fall  of  1886, 
was  acknowledged  to  be  due  in  a  great  measure  to  Mr.  Price's 
careful  supervision  and  efficient  work,  and  he  was  acknowledged 
by  the  successful  candidates  to  have  no  superior  in  his  position. 
Mr.  Price  is  an  energetic  business  man;  genial  in  disposition,  is 
respected,  popular  and  widely  known.  He  was  married  Febru- 
ary 5,  1868,  to  Miss  Jennie  Cone,  of  Springfield. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  55  I 

HON.  GEORGE  A.  MEECH. 

George  Appleton  Meech,  eldest  of  three  sons  of  Appleton 
and  Sibyl  (Brewster)  Meech,  was  born  in  Norwich,  Connecticut, 
January  19,  1824,  and  he  comes  of  a  long  line  of  ancestors 
noted  for  patriotism  and  Puritan  virtues.  His  father  was 
born  in  Preston,  New  London  county,  Connecticut,  as  was  also 
his  paternal  grandfather,  and  his  mother  was  born  in  Griswold  in 
the  same  county,  a  daughter  of  Elias  Brewster.  His  father, 
Appleton  Meech,  was  Captain  of  an  American  war  vessel  in  the 
privateer  service  during  the  war  of  1812-14,  and  afterward  had 
command  of  a  vessel  engaged  in  the  East  India  trade,  and  his 
grandfather,  Jacob  Meech,  was  Captain  in  the  Continental  Army 
during  the  Revolutionary  war ;  was  a  member  of  Washington's 
historic  bodyguard  ;  was  taken  prisoner  at  one  period,  and  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  White  Plains.  His  mother  was  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Rev.  William  Brewster,  of  the  Mayflower,  and 
Brewster's  Neck,  on  the  Thames  River,  is  named  after  a  son  of 
the  preacher,  who  at  one  time  relieved  Uncas,  when  the  great 
chief  was  besieged  by  the  Narragansetts  or  Pequots,  and  who 
attested  his  gratitude  for  the  service  by  ceding  his  friend  a  large 
tract  of  land. 

George  A.  Meech  first  attended  private  school  iti  Norwich 
and  then  in  New  Haven.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  1839  and 
graduated  in  1843,  witn  tne  degree  of  A.  B.  He  taught  a  dis- 
trict school  in  Bozrah  for  a  short  time  and  then  became  principal 
of  the  Academy  of  Norwich,  and  at  the  same  time  read  law  with 
the  Hon.  Lafayette  S.  Foster,  afterward  President  of  the  United 
States  Senate.  He  next  went  to  the  South  and  remained  until 
1847,  teaching  at  Demopolis,  Marengo  county,  Alabama,  and 
reading  law  with  Mr.  Manning  of  that  place.  Returning  to  New 
England  he  completed  his  legal  studies  with  Hubbard  and  Watts 
and  Hon.  Robert  Rantoul  of  Boston,  and  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice in  1848.  The  next  year  he  was  appointed  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  New  London  county,  and  in  the  spring  of  1853  was 
elected  Judge  of  Probate  of  the  Norwich  district.  These 
positions  he  filled  with  dignity  and  ability,  but  he  could  not  re- 
main in  a  field  so  auspiciously  entered  for  the  reason  that  an  in- 
valid wife  demanded  his  entire  attention,  and  he  resigned  the 
office  of  Probate  Judge  and,  with  the  view  of  improving  his 
wife's  health,  removed  to  the  West  in  the  fall  of  1853.  ^e  set" 
tied  in  Chicago  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law,  and  his  first 
case  became  a  celebrated  one  and  gave  him  prominence  and  a  lucra- 


552  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

tivc  practice  followed.  He  was  assigned  by  the  late  Judge  Robert 
S.  Wilson  to  defend  a  criminal  who  was  being  prosecuted  by  the 
noted  Daniel  Mcllroy,  who  was  then  State's  Attorney.  Lawyer 
Meech  attacked  the  prejudices  of  the  jury  and  the  result  was 
that  the  culprit  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  twenty-seven 
years'  imprisonment.  The  young  lawyer  immediately  applied  for 
a  new  trial  ;  secured  it,  and  promptly  cleared  his  unprofitable 
client.  In  the  important  practice  which  immediately  came  into 
his  hands  he  found  full  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  superior 
legal  talents.  In  the  spring  of  1862  he  was  made  the  Demo- 
cratic nominee  for  City  Attorney,  on  the  same  ticket  with  Mayor 
Francis  C.  Sherman,  and,  although  the  war  feeling  was  at  its 
height,  and  the  Republicans  were  carrying  everything,  he  was 
elected  by  a  decisive  majority.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  the 
office  with  signal  ability  and  retired,  standing  high  in  public  favor. 
The  following  year  (1864)  he  was  appointed  City  Assessor,  re- 
ceiving the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Common  Council,  which  was 
evenly  composed  of  Republicans  and  Democrats.  This  office  he 
conducted  for  two  years,  with  conspicuous  fidelity  to  public  in- 
terests. From  1864  to  1875  he  devoted  his  attention  to  the 
practice  of  his  profession  and  secured  a  wealthy  and  prominent 
clientage.  In  1865  he  became  the  attorney  of  Commodore 
Bigelow,  and  was  given  the  management  of  the  celebrated  Bige- 
low  estate,  and  this  important  trust  he  conducted  with  great  pru- 
dence and  business  and  legal  tact  up  to  the  transfer  to  the  Gov- 
ernment for  $1,250,000,  of  the  portion  now  occupied  by  the 
Custom  House.  In  1875  he  was  selected  by  the  Judges  as  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace.  In  1879,  and  again  in  1883  he  was  re-ap- 
pointed, and  both  times  indorsements  were  presented  to  the 
Judges,  requesting  his  re-appointment  for  the  publicly  known 
reason  that  he  was  able,  experienced,  and  his  faithfulness  and 
rectitude  were  well  known,  and  that  he  had  already  filled  the 
office  with  the  intelligence  and  dignity  becoming  a  court  of  jus- 
tice. The  petitions  represented,  besides  lawyers  and  judges, 
many  prominent  men  in  business  circles,  containing  the  names  of 
such  well  known  men  as  Thomas  Hoyne,  F.  H.  Kales,  Leonard 
Swett,  E.  B.  McCa^c:,  Van  H.  Higgins,  ludoe  George  Gardner, 
Elliott  Anthony,  B.  F.  Ayer,  S.  Corning  Judd,  Robert  T. 
Lincoln,  I.  N.  Stiles,  Arno  Voss,  Thomas  Dent,  Sol.  Smith, 
Lyman  J.  Gage,  Nelson  Ludington,  George  Schneider,  George 
L.  Otis,  James  D.  Sturgis,  John  DeKoven,  and  others,  many 
of  whom  wrote  personal  appeals  for  his  retainment  on  the  score 
of  public  interest,  and  his  acknowledged  ability  and  fitness  for 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  553 

the  position.  In  August,  1885,  Justice  Meech  was  designated 
by  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council  to  preside  over  the  Police 
Court.  In  this  position  his  ability  and  knowledge  of  the  law 
again  came  into  play.  He  was  thorough  in  his  analysis,  clear, 
prompt  and  decisive  in  his  rulings,  and  unbiased  in  his  judg- 
ment. The  position  was  one  which  had  always  had  certain 
political  connections  and  incited  the  antagonism  of  many  persons 
having  political  influence,  and  Justice  Meech,  like  all  his  predeces- 
sors in  the  office  of  Police  Justice,  was  made  the  object  of  par- 
tisan attacks,  directed  in  the  main  at  the  city  administration,  of 
which  he  was  held  to  be  the  representative.  In  this  trying 
position  Justice  Meech  has  ever  retained  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  his  friends,  and  has  steadfastly  pursued  the  even  tenor 
of  his  way,  and  performed  his  duties  in  an  exemplary  manner. 
He  made  many  improvements  in  the  method  of  conducting  the 
court ;  established  rules  of  cleanliness  and  proper  conduct  and 
dispensed  justice  tempered  with  mercy.  Of  his  personal  traits  a 
Chicago  journal  once  said :  "As  a  citizen  he  is  loyal  and  true, 
and  has  been  especially  faithful  to  the  community  in  which  he 
lives.  As  a  man  he  possesses  most  admirable  qualities  ;  warm 
and  sympathetic  in  his  friendships  ;  courteous,  affable,  social  and 
genial,  he  possesses  that  plain  style  and  matter-of-fact  directness 
of  purpose,  and  that  modest,  unobtrusive  manner,  to  oe  expected 
in  one  who,  like  himself,  has  an  utter  contempt  for  all  shams 
and  mere  pretense." 

For  a  period  of  thirty-three  years  Justice  Meech  has  now 
been  before  the  people  of  Chicago,  and  identified  with  many  of 
the  most  important  interests  of  the  city.  He  is  a  polished  and 
high  bred  gentleman  of  the  old  school  ;  firm  in  his  convictions, 
blunt,  honest,  and  straightforward  ;  his  integrity  is  unimpeacha- 
ble. During  his  earlier  years,  when  the  care  of  his  invalid  wife 
and  a  number  of  dependent  relatives  fell  to  his  lot,  he  passed 
through  trials  and  performed  duties  which  firmly  established  him 
in  the  respect  of  his  friends,  and  their  admiration  of  his  character 
has  increased  with  years,  nor  been  diminished  by  the  vicissitudes 
attending  public  office.  In  politics  Justice  Meech  has  always 
been  a  Democrat,  as  the  term  applies  to  the  theory  of  govern- 
ment ;  but  he  has  always  had  personal  and  independent  views, 
and  during  the  Lincoln-Douglas  campaign  was  an  ardent  sup- 
porter of  the  "  Little  Giant."  He  has  long  been  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity;  a  life  member  of  Waubansia  Lodge  ;  a  life 
member  of  Washington  Chapter  Royal  Arch  Masons  ;  a  Knight 
Templar  and  life  member  of  Apollo  Commandery. 


554  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Justice  Meech  was  first  married  in  1850  to  a  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  who  died  in 
1859.  In  JS6i  he  married  a  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Milo  Hunt, 
of  Chenango  county,  New  York,  who  died  in  1878,  and  in  1880 
he  married  Florence,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Capt.  William 
Story,  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  by  whom  he  has  his  only  living  child, 
Harold  Appleton  Meech,  aged  five  years,  a  precocious,  bright 
and  promising  boy. 


JOHN    H.  COLVIN. 

John  Henry  Colvin,  member  of  the  City  Council  from  the 
Sixteenth  ward,  was  born  October  25,  1839,  at  Little  Falls, 
Herkimer  county,  N.  Y.  His  father,  Hon.  Harvey  D.  Colvin, 
ex-Mayor  of  Chicago,  and  his  mother,  Nancy  (Churchill)  Col- 
vin, were  born  in  the  same  town.  They  came  West  in  1854, 
locating  in  Chicago.  John  H.  attended  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  town  and  after  coming  to  Chicago  attended  the  old  Dear- 
born school.  From  1856  to  1S59  he  was  engaged  with  the 
United  States  Express  Company  here  and  was  agent  for  the 
same  company  at  Ottawa,  111.,  from  1859  to  i§02'  In  June  of 
the  latter  year  he  enlisted  in  Battery  M,  First  Regiment  Illinois 
Light  Artillery,  and  was  commissioned  First  Lieutenant.  He 
served  till  October,  1863,  when  the  War  Department  commis- 
sioned him  to  organize  a  new  battery  of  artillery.  He  speedily 
raised  the  battery,  and  it  was  jnustered  in  at  Knoxville,  111., 
October  12,  1863,  and  he  was  commissioned  Captain,  and  served 
till  June  12,  1865.  He  was  Chief  of  Artillery  of  the  Fourth 
Division,  Twenty-third  Army  Corps  during  1864-5.  He  was 
engaged  at  the  front  in  the  East  Tennessee  campaign,  and  in 
all  Western  battles  in  which  the  Army  of  the.  Tennessee  par- 
ticipated. Returning  to  Chicago  in  1866  he  was  appointed 
Agent  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Express  Fast  Freight  Line, 
with  headquarters  in  New  York.  In  1868  he  returned  to  Chi- 
cago, and  was  General  Agent  of  the  United  States  and  the 
American  Express  companies  during  the  memorable  "express 
war"  in  which  these  two  companies  and  the  Merchants'  were 
engaged.  While  always  actively  interested  in  politics  it  was  not 
until  the  fall  of  1880  that  Mr.  Colvin  held  any  public  position. 
At  this  time  William  Vogt,  North  Town  Collector,  requested 
him  to  assume  charge  of  his  office  and  he  did  so,  and  conducted 
it  in  a  highly  satisfactory  manner  for  two  years.  In  April,  1882, 
he  was  elected  Alderman  of  the  Sixteenth  ward,  and  was  re- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  555 

elected  in  1884  and  again  in  1886,  by  increased  majorities.  He 
has  done  much  in  the  City  Council  to  advance  public  improve- 
ments. In  1880  he  was  without  solicitation  on  his  part  made 
the  nominee  of  the  Democratic  convention  for  Coroner  of  Cook 
county,  and  the  entire  ticket  was  defeated,  his  successful  oppo- 
nent being  C.  R.  Matson.  Mr.  Colvin  has  been  tendered  the 
nomination  for  various  legislative  and  county  offices,  but  has  de- 
clined. He  was  a  member  of  the  Democratic  County  Central 
Committee  seven  years,  Vice  Chairman  three  years,  and  Chair- 
man in  1886.  "He  has  been  a  delegate  to  all  important  state  and 
local  conventions  for  several  years,  and  in  1884  was  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Reception  of  delegates  to  the  National 
convention.  He  is  a  member  of  Delphi  Lodge  No.  23,  A.  F. 
&  A.  M.,  of  New  York  ;  of  Lincoln  Park  Lodge  2620,  Knights 
of  Honor ;  of  the  Royal  Arcanum  and  of  Court  Lincoln  Lodge 
of  Foresters.  He  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Annie  Wick- 
liffe,  of  Collinsville,  Madison  county.  111.,  April  7,  1873,  anc* 
has  resided  in  the  Sixteenth  ward  for  the  past  nine  years. 


JAMES  H.  FARRELL. 

James  Henry  Farrell  was  born  November  19^  1842.  His 
father,  James  Joseph  Farrell,  and  his  mother,  Ann  (Highland) 
Farrell  were  natives  of  Tullamore,  near  Dublin.  They  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1851  and  settled  in  New  York;  his  mother 
dying  in  1871,  and  his  father  in  1875. 

James  H.  Farrell  first  attended  the  public  schools  in  New 
York,  and  for  three  years  was  employed  with  Christy,  Constant 
&  Co.,  the  great  wall  paper  manufacturers.  In  April,  1861,  when 
but  sixteen  years  old,  he  enlisted  in  the  gallant  and  famous 
Fifth  New  York  Zouaves,  and  served  under  Gen.  Judson  J. 
Kilpatrick,  who  later  on  was  promoted  to  General  of  Cavalry. 
He_participated  in  one  of  the  first  battles  of  the  war,  that  of 
Big  Bethel,  and  was  at  the  famous  Siege  of  Yorktown  ;  at 
Williamsburg  and  Hampton,  where  his  regiment  was  the  first 
to  raise  the  Stars  and  Stripes  over  Ex-President  Tyler's  house  ; 
through  the  Peninsular  campaign,  in  the  famous  seven  days' 
battles,  Chickahominy,  Fair  Oaks,  Mechanicsville,  Charles  City 
Cross-Roads,  Harrison's  Landing,  and  then  with  the  Fifth  Army 
Corps  under  Gen.  G.  K.  Warren  and  Fitz  John  Porter  and 
McClellan  until  honorably  discharged  at  Sharpsburg,  Maryland. 
His  regiment  was  the  favorite  of  the  people  of  New  York,  and 
was  considered  the  best  in  the  volunteer  service.     He  came  to 


55^  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

Chicago  in  1869,  and  engaged  with  Faxon  &  Co.,  house  decora- 
tors, and  was  next  employed  at  the  Adams  House  with  Pearce  & 
Benjamin,  and  subsequently  with  Potter  Palmer.  In  1872  he 
was  elected  Captain  of  the  Mulligan  Zouaves,  to  succeed  John  J. 
Healy.  After  the  Second  Regiment  Illinois  Militia  was  formed 
he  became  Captain  of  Company  C  ,  succeeding  John  Meaney, 
and  participated  in  the  riots  of  1877.  He  served  as  a  deputy 
collector  under  South  Town  Collectors  William  Best  and  John 
Fenelon.  In  1879  ne  was  appointed  Deputy  North  Town  Assessor 
by  Assessor  Sam  Chase.  In  1880  he  went  into  the  real  estate  busi- 
ness, which  he  still  pursues ;  was  a  deputy  under  North  Town 
Collectors  Frank  Neisen  and  William  Vogt,  and  assistant  Chief 
Deputy  under  John  Tempel.  In  politics  Capt.  Farrell  has 
always  been  a  Democrat,  and  his  active  organizing  ability  has 
been  recognized  by  his  friends.  He  is  a  member  of  and  assistant 
Marshal  of  the  Cook  county  Club,  and  in  1884  assisted  in  re- 
ceiving the  clubs  in  attendance  at  the  National  convention  ;  cam- 
paigned through  the  state  with  the  club  when  Carter  H.  Harrison 
ran  for  Governor;  was  an  ardent  Cleveland  man,  and  had  charge 
of  the  club  on  its  trip  to  the  inauguration  at  Washington  and 
return,  and  was  assistant  Marshal  in  charge  of  the  Hancock  and 
Hendricks  funeral  demonstrations,  and  when  Gen.  McClellan 
paid  his  last  visit  to  the  city  he  was  on  the  reception  committee 
and  mustered  the  Democratic  war  veterans  to  receive  him.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Democratic  City  Central  Committee 
for  six  years,  and  is  now  Vice-President  of  the  Committee  for  the 
second  term.  In  October,  1886,  he  was  nominated  by  acclama- 
tion for  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  by  the  Sixth  Sena- 
torial District  convention,  and  in  the  election  received  a  vote 
that  fully  attested  his  popularity,  receiving  a  total  vote  of  10,191 
and  a  majority  of  1,900.  He  has  been  twice  married,  the  last 
time  in  1879,  and  was  the  father  of  three  children,  all  deceased. 


JAMES  T.  APPLETON. 

James  Thomas  Appleton,  member  of  the  City  Council  from 
the  Second  ward  for  three  terms,  was  born  in  Chicago,  Sep- 
tember 29,  1843.  His  father,  James  Appleton,  was  a  native  of 
Manchester,  England,  and  his  mother,  Rachel  (Ludby)  Apple- 
ton,  was  born  in  New  York.  The  family  settled  in  Chicago  in 
1832,  and  Mrs.  Appleton,  who  still  survives,  has  the  medal  of 
the  "Old  Settlers'  Association  "  presented  to  her  as  the  oldest 
English  speaking  woman  in  Chicago.     James  first  went  to  Mrs. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  557 

Barnard's  school,  on  Twelfth  street,  then  to  the  Jones  school; 
received  tuition  under  Professors  Woodward  and  McChesney, 
and  attended  also  Mrs.  Lewis'  private  school,  on  the  corner  of 
Taylor  street  and  Fourth  avenue.  After  his  school  days  were 
over  he  engaged  in  and  for  a  period  of  nine  years  conducted,  a 
baggage  express  business.  Christmas  day,  1862,  he  was  mar- 
ried, and  three  weeks  subsequently  he  enlisted  in  Company  D, 
Tenth  Illinois  Cavalry,  under  Col.  Jim  Stewart,  and  served  in  the 
Seventh  Army  Corps  under  Sherman  and  Sheridan  until  1865, 
when  he  was  mustered  out  at  Shreveport,  La.  He  was  on  the 
raid  through  Arkansas ;  at  Little  Rock,  Brownsville,  Pilot  Knob, 
at  the  Siege  of  Vicksburg  and  of  Nashville,  and  in  many  of  the 
hardest  battles  of  the  war.  After  his  discharge  he  returned  to 
Chicago  and  bought  a  vessel,  the  "  Scandinavian,"  and  went  into 
the  Michigan  fruit  trade  for  a  period  of  two  years.  Subsequently 
he  engaged  in  a  variety  of  enterprises,  finally  opening  a  sample 
room  in  the  Second  ward  which  immediately  became  a  noted 
political  headquarters.  In  the  spring  of  1881  his  friends  urged 
him  to  become  a  candidate  for  alderman,  and  receiving  a  popular 
call,  he  took  the  field,  and  defeated  A.  M.  Billings  by  a  majority 
of  126,  the  ward  having  up  to  that  time  been  Republican.  He 
was  re-elected  in  1883,  defeating  Charles  Lithgow  by  a  majority 
of  800;  and  again  in  1885,  when  his  popularity  was  put  to  the 
test  by  both  a  Democrat  and  a  Republican — Martin  A.  Driscoll 
and  Martin  Best — and  he  was  elected  by  the  large  plurality  of 
1,200.  Alderman  Appleton  has  been  a  member  of  the  Demo- 
cratic County  Central  Committee  six  years,  and  of  the  City 
Central  Committee  three  years.  He  was  married  December  25, 
1862,  to  Miss  Rosanna  E.  Fagan,  and  is  the  father  of  two  chil- 
dren. George  W.  Appleton,  aged  twenty,  and  Hattie  Elizabeth 
Appleton,  aged  eighteen  years. 


OSCAR  C.    DE  WOLF,  M.  D. 

COMMISSIONER    OF    HEALTH. 

Oscar  C.  De  Wolf,  M.  D.,  Commissioner  of  Health  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  was  born  on  August  8,  1835,  at  Chester,  Hamp- 
den Co.,  Mass.,  the  son  of  Dr.  T.  K.  De  \Volf,  for  half  a  cen- 
tury a  prominent  practitioner  in  that  vicinity.  He  obtained  his 
earlier  education  in  the  schools  of  his  neighborhood  and  received 
the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  Williams  College  ;  pursued 
his   medical  studies  at  Berkshire   College   and  graduated  there- 


558  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

from  in  1857.  *n  l&5&  ne  attended  the  New  York  Medical 
College  and  from  this  institution  received  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine.  The  succeeding  two  years  he  spent  in  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  University  of  France,  at  Paris.  Upon  re- 
ceiving news  of  threatened  war  in  1861  he  sailed  for  home, 
arriving  in  Massachusetts  in  July  and  being  at  once  appointed 
surgeon  of  the  First  Massachusetts  Cavalry,  afterward  becoming 
surgeon  of  the  Second  Massachusetts  and  of  the  Reserve  Brigade, 
consisting  of  five  regiments  of  cavalry.  He  served  through  the 
war,  being  attached  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  to  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  during  Sheridan's  Shenandoah  campaign. 
In  the  fall  of  1865  he  was  discharged  for  disability  and  returned 
to  his  home,  where  he  established  himself  as  a  practitioner. 
Later  he  located  in  Chicago,  and  in  1867  he  was  appointed 
Commissioner  of  Health  by  Mayor  Monroe  Heath,  and  he  has 
since  filled  that  position  by  successive  re-appointments,  notwith- 
standing changes  of  administration.  By  his  great  energy  and 
thorough  knowledge  of  sanitary  science  he  has  brought  the 
Chicago  Health  Department  up  to  the  highest  grade  of  any  in 
the  country,  and  during  his  administration  at  the  head  of  this 
important  department  the  death  rate  of  Chicago  has  decreased 
until  it  is  the  lowest  of  any  great  city  in  the  United  States.  Dr. 
De  Wolf  is  an  enthusiast  upon  the  subject  of  public  health,  and 
his  measures  are  always  radical  and  effective.  Chicago,  once 
subject  to  small-pox  epidemics,  has,  by  a  general  system  of  vac- 
cination in  the  public  and  parish  schools  ;  rigid  quarantine  and 
disinfection  methods,  become  free  from  this  destructive  pest. 
Through  his  instrumentality  a  thorough  system  of  tenement- 
house  inspection  has  been  perfected  and  much  important  sani- 
tary legislation  has  been  adopted,  including  laws  governing  the 
construction  of  tenement-houses,  and  the  ventilation,  drainage 
and  sanitary  arrangement  of  all  habitations.  For  two  years  Dr. 
De  Wolf  held  the  chair  of  Surgical  Pathology  in  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  University  of  Ohio,  and  is  now  professor  of 
State  Medicine  and  Public  Hygiene  in  the  Chicago  Medical 
College,  and  he  is  the  author  of  many  treatises  on  sanitary  topics 
that  have  been  considered  standard  authority.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  all  the  local  medical  societies  and  of  the  State  societies 
of  Illinois  and  Massachusetts,  and  of  the  British  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science.  As  a  public  official  he  is  thorough, 
obliging  and  popular.  Dr.  De  Wolf  was  united  in  marriage  in 
December,  1873,  to  Miss  Harriet  L.  Lyman,  of  North  Hampton, 
Mass. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  559 

ALEXANDER   KIRKLAND. 

Alexander  Kirkland,  Commissioner  of  the  Department  of 
Public  Buildings,  was  born  in  Kilbarchen,  Renfrewshire,  Scot- 
land, September  24,  1824.  His  father,  Captain  James  Kirkland, 
served  under  Wellington  at  Waterloo,  and  in  the  Peninsular 
campaign,  and  at  the  time  of  Alexander's  birth  had  been  already 
retired  on  account  of  wounds  received  under  the  famous  com- 
mander at  Waterloo.  He  died  in  1859.  Alexander  attended 
the  parish  school  and  subsequently  the  high  school  at  Glasgow, 
and  next  the  college,  from  which  he  graduated  in  184.4.  At  an 
early  age  Mr.  Kirkland  developed  an  aptitude  for  draughting 
and  architecture,  and  while  attending  college  took  up  these 
studies  and  engineering,  and  completed  them  before  graduating. 
Upon  leaving  college  he  entered  upon  his  profession,  and  suc- 
cessfully followed  it  for  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years.  In 
1868  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and  located  in  Jefferson 
county,  Wisconsin.  In  1871  he  removed  to  Chicago  and  fol- 
lowed his  profession  until  May,  1879,  wnen  he  was  appointed 
Commissioner  of  Public  Buildings.  In  this  position  he  has  con- 
ducted a  department  from  which  permits  have  been  issued  for 
the  construction  of  buildings  amounting  in  value  to  $25,000,000 
per  annum,  or  an  aggregate  of  over  $200,000,000,  ana!  under  his 
management  this  department  has  been  revenue-producing. 
Under  his  supervision  also  the  owners  of  theatres  and  public 
halls  have  been  required  to  carry  out  improvements  that  insure 
the  safety  of  patrons.  As  supervising  architect  he  had  charge 
of  the  entire  construction  of  the  City  Hall,  and  his  experience 
and  able  management  saved  to  the  city  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars. Mr.  Kirkland's  geniality  of  disposition  and  sturdy  prin- 
ciples have  attached  to  him  many  warm  friends  who  have  the 
highest  admiration  for  his  character.  He  has  been  an  active 
member  of  the  St.  Andrews  society  since  his  arrival  in  Chicago 
and  was  three  times  elected  President  of  that  society.  When 
in  Scotland  he  was  a  prominent  Free  Mason,  and  Past  Master  of 
a  flourishing  lodge,  but  has  not  kept  up  his  connection  with  the 
Order  here.  He  has  been  twice  married,  his  first  wife,  Jane 
Hewittson,  dying  in  1847.  ^n  1855  ne  married  Miss  Eliza  M. 
Kirkland,  a  second  cousin.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  two  sons  ; 
R.  B.  Kirkland  was  for  four  years  District  Attorney  of  Jefferson 
county,  Wis.,  and  later  the  law  partner  of  Congressman  James 
H.  Ward  ;  and  James  K.  Kirkland,  assistant  manager  of  the 
Grand  Trunk  railroad  machine  shops  at  Port  Huron,  Mich.     A 


560  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

daughter  by  his  present  wife,  Jearmette  Law  Kirkland,  some 
years  ago  became  the  wife  of  William  Edgar,  Secretary  of  the 
Building  Department. 


DAVID  S.  MEAD. 


David  S.  Mead,  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Public 
Works,  was  born  at  Tarrytown,  Westchester  county,  New  York, 
July  13,  1827.  His  father,  Ezra  Mead,  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Tarrytown,  and  fought  through  the  war  of  181 2.  His 
mother  was  Elizabeth  Van  Wert,  whose  family  was  identified 
with  the  capture  of  Major  Andre  during  the  struggle  of  1776. 
Mr.  Mead  commenced  his  education  at  a  select  school,  erected  on 
the  spot  made  historical  by  the  execution  of  Andre.  In  1836 
his  family  removed  to  Orleans  county,  where  his  education  was 
completed.  In  1854  he  moved  to  Buffalo,  and  was  engaged  in 
steamboating  during  the  life  of  the  passenger  steamers  plying 
between  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Toledo,  and  Detroit,  after  which  he 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Toledo,  Wabash  &  Western  Railroad, 
having  charge  of  the  freight  and  ticket  business  at  the  western 
terminus  of  the  line,  then  located  at  State  Line  City,  Ind. 
He  came  to  Chicago  in  1865,  holding  important  positions  with 
the  Merchant's  Insurance  Company  of  Chicago.  He  entered 
the  employ  of  the  city  in  1867,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  in  the 
Special  Assessment  Department.  In  August,  1876,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works,  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  Mayor  Rice,  and  he  still  holds  the  position,  being 
one  of  the  oldest  and  most  faithful  city  employes.  For  a  period 
of  nearly  twenty  years,  under  recurring  changes  of  administra- 
tion, his  great  serviceability  in  the  various  positions  filled  by  him 
has  been  recognized,  and  the  experience  he  has  gained  in  the 
different  departments  well  fits  him  for  his  present  responsible 
position,  and  would  qualify  him  for  important  duties  under  any 
municipality.  He  holds  his  duties  superior  to  party  affiliations  ; 
is  genial,  obliging,  and  possesses  the  confidence  and  esteem  of 
all  officials  and  citizens  who  make  his  acquaintance.  Mr.  Mead 
was  married  in  October,  1850,  to  Miss  Adelia  L.  Munn,  daugh- 
ter of  Abner  Munn,  a  well  known  farmer  of  Orleans  county, 
New  York,  and  has  two  children, — Morton  E.,  and  Walter  W. 
Although  educated  a  strict  sectarian,  Mr.  Mead  is  progressive 
and  liberal  in  his  religious  ideas,  and  was  among  the  first  with 
his  family,  to  join  in  the  organization  of  the  Central  Church  So- 
ciety of  Chicago,  of  which  he  is  now  an  officer. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  56 1 

JOHN  E.  VAN  PELT. 

John  E.  VanPelt,  member  of  the  Board  of  Cook  County 
Commissioners  from  1882  to  1886,  was  born  in  Burlington,  N. 
J.,  July  23,  1836.  At  the  age  of  three  years  he  came  West  with 
his  parents  who  settled  at  Jerseyville,  111.,  and  there  during  his 
early  years  he  became  known  as  a  young  man  full  of  promise  of 
public  usefulness.  Before  arriving  at  his  majority  he  engaged  in 
the  grain  and  himber  business,  and  by  his  energy  speedily  built 
up  a  successful' and  prosperous  business.  He  was  an  ardent 
Democrat  in  politics,  and  his  influence  and  advice  in  political 
matters  in  Jersey  county  were  sought  by  his  party  friends.  From 
an  early  age  he  took  an  active  interest  in  all  political  movements 
intended  to  advance  public  interests  and  conserve  the  cause  of 
good  government.  In  1862,  when  but  twenty-six  years  old,  he 
was  elected  Treasurer  of  Jersey  county,  and  held  the  position  for 
two  terms,  or  four  years.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office 
in  a  manner  highly  satisfactory  to  the  people  of  Jersey  county, 
and  retired  possessing  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all.  Other 
political  offices  of  trust  and  honor  were  proffered  him  which  he 
declined  in  order  to  give  his  attention  to  his  private  business  inter- 
ests. In  the  spring  of  1873  tne  municipal  affairs  of* Jerseyville 
were  in  a  disordered  state,  and  a  Citizen's  movement  was  inaugur- 
ated in  the  interests  of  better  government.  The  better  element  of 
the  Democrats  and  Republicans  united  to  form  a  Citizen's  ticket 
and  Mr.  VanPelt  was  tendered  and  accepted  the  nomination  for 
Mayor.  His  opponent  was  Archie  Locke,  also  a  Democrat.  One  of 
the  closest  and  most  exciting  campaigns  ever  witnessed  in  that  lo- 
cality ensued,  and  Mr.  VanPelt  made  a  personal  canvass  and  met 
with  a  decisive  and  gratifying  success.  In  1874  he  removed  to  Chi- 
cago and  entered  the  grain  and  commission  business  on  the  Board 
of  Trade.  In  the  fall  of  1882  he  was  made  the  Democratic  nomi- 
nee for  County  Commissioner,  and  was  elected  by  a  large  major- 
ity. During  his  term  he  proved  himself  one  of  the  most  capable 
and  industrious  conservators  of  public  interests  ever  elected  to  the 
County  Board,  and  by  reason  of  his  energy  and  great  ability  as  a 
financier  he  became  the  most  conspicuous  member  of  that  body. 
He  has  been  a  persistent  advocate  of  reform  in  matters  relating  to 
revenue  and  taxation,  and  it  is  mainly  through  his  unceasing  efforts 
in  this  direction  that  a  more  just  and  equitable  scale  of  taxation 
has  been  recommended  by  the  State  Board  of  Equalization,  and 
that  the  financial  affairs  of  Cook  county  are  in  a  fair  way  of  re- 
cuperation. During  his  term  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Commit- 
36 


562  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

tee  on  Public  Service,  of  Public  Charities,  and  other  important 
committees.  In  December,  1882,  he  was  elected  Chairman  of 
the  Cook  county  Democratic  Central  Committee,  and  was  twice 
re-elected  to  that  position.  He  has  been  an  active  and  influen- 
tial delegate  in  State,  County,  and  City  conventions,  and  his  polit- 
ical sagacity  is  acknowledged  by  his  party  associates  and  his  oppo- 
nents as  well.  In  October,  1886,  he  received  the  votes  of  the 
Twelfth  ward  delegates  for  State  Senator  in  the  Senatorial 
convention  of  his  district,  and  was  nominated  but  declined  to 
make  the  race,  as  there  was  a  contest  in  the  district.  In  1885  he 
established  the  Chicago  Commercial  and  Financial  News  Com- 
pany, and  was  elected  Vice-President  of  the  company,  and  to  the 
interests  of  this  successful  concern  he  now  gives  his  attention. 


JAMES   M.  DOYLE. 


James  M.  Doyle,  Chief  Deputy  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Crimi- 
nal Court  of  Cook  county,  is  widely  known  in  Chicago,  where 
he  has  resided  since  boyhood.  He  was  born  in  County  Wexford, 
Ireland,  in  1839,  and  in  1848  he  came  to  America  with  his 
parents,  who  located  in  Chicago.  His  father,  Peter  Doyle,  died 
in  Chicago  in  1851,  but  his  family  still  reside  here.  James  M. 
Doyle  was  educated  at  the  old  Scammon  school,  commencing 
upon  his  arrival  here  in  1848.  In  1852  and  1853  he  attended 
the  college  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake.  When  seventeen  years  of 
age  he  learned  the  grocery  business,  and  at  once  engaged  in  the 
trade  on  his  own  account  on  the  West  side.  In  August,  1862, 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  B,  Twenty-third  Illinois  In- 
fantry, better  known  as  Mulligan's  Brigade.  He  participated  in 
all  the  engagements  of  the  brigade,  and  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service  at  Chicago,  August  1,  1865.  He  was  successively  pro- 
moted to  Second  Lieutenant  and  Captain,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
war  was  breveted  Major.  On  leaving  the  service  he  became  a 
bookkeeper  for  E.  W.  Brown  on  South  Water  street  for  two 
years  He  then  engaged  in  the  produce  business  on  his  own 
account,  which  he  carried  on  until  January,  1870,  when  he  en- 
tered the  office  of  City  Collector  under  W.  J.  Onahan  as  a  clerk. 
He  remained  in  the  Collector's  office  for  about  three  years,  serving 
there  during  the  first  term  of  George  Von  Hollen.  In  1S73  he 
became  Chief  Deputy  Clerk  of  the  Criminal  Court,  which  posi- 
tion he  still  occupies.  Major  Doyle  was  a  candidate  in  1 868  for 
West  Town  Assessor  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  was  defeated 
together  with  the  entire  ticket.     From  this  time  until   1876  he 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  563 

•continued  quite  active  in  politics.  In  the  fall  of  1886  he  was 
nominated  by  the  Democratic  County  convention  for  Clerk  of  the 
Criminal  Court,  his  Republican  opponent  being  James  H.  Gil- 
bert. In  the  election  he  ran  over  3,000  votes  ahead  of  the  can- 
didate for  Sheriff,  but  went  down  in  the  general  defeat  that 
overtook  the  ticket  on  account  of  the  Socialist  and  labor  upris- 
ing. Major  Doyle  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  Mulligan  Post,  No.  306.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Benevolent  Legion,  which  he  founded  in  Chicago  in 
March,  1884,  being  the  first  introduction  of  the  order  in  the 
West.  He  was  married  in  Chicago  in  1878  to  Miss  Rose  Don- 
nelly. They  have  four  children,  Eleanor,  Leo  Joseph,  Julia  and 
James  J, 


WILLIAM  EISFELDT. 

William  Eisfeldt,  Alderman  of  the  Fifteenth  ward,  has  re- 
sided in  Chicago  since  infancy,  where  he  is  widely  known  both 
in  business  and  political  circles.  Mr.  Eisfeldt  was  born  in  Mag- 
deburg, Germany,  in  February,  1852.  When  he  was  but  six 
months  old  his  parents  removed  to  the  United  States,  coming 
direct  to  Chicago.  William  Eisfeldt,  Sr.,  settled  in  what  is  now 
the  Fifteenth  ward,  and  still  lives  in  the  house  he  erected  for  him- 
self more  than  thirty  years  ago.  His  wife  still  survives,  and 
William  is  the  only  one  of  his  children  living.  Mr.  Eisfeldt  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Chicago,  and  also  for  some  time 
attended  German  schools.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  butcher, 
and  in  1873  opened  a  meat  market  on  his  own  account  at  South 
Halsted  and  Sixteenth  streets.  He  carried  on  business  here  for 
about  one  year,  when  he  sold  out  and  removed  to  Wentworth 
avenue,  near  Twenty-sixth  street,  where  he  opened  a  market, 
which  he  operated  until  1877,  wn^n  he  disposed  of  the  business 
and  removed  to  Fort  Worth,  Texas,  where  he  at  once  entered 
the  butcher  trade,  operating  two  markets,  and  doing  his  own 
slaughtering.  Two  years  later  he  sold  out  his  entire  establish- 
ment, and  began  the  business  of  shipping  cattle.  This  last 
venture  not  proving  successful  he  returned  to  Chicago  in  1879, 
and  resumed  his  old  business  at  his  old  stand  on  Wentworth 
avenue.  In  the  spring  of  1882  he  once  more  disposed  of  his  busi- 
ness and  returned  to  his  old  home  in  the  Fifteenth  ward.  In 
June  of  that  year  he  opened  a  market  at  No.  171  ^outhport 
avenue,  which  he  still  operates.  In  September,  1886,  he  entered 
into  a  copartnership  with  Charles  L.  Griebenow,  under  the  style 


564  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

of  Griebenow  &  Eisfelclt,  to  carry  on  at  Clybourn  and  Web- 
ster avenues,  a  wholesale  and  retail  flour,  grain,  and  feed  store. 
Mr.  Eisfeldt,  like  his  father,  has  always  been  a  pronounced  Re- 
publican, but  has  never  taken  an  active  interest  in  politics  until 
within  the  last  four  years.  In  1883  he  was  a  candidate  for 
Alderman  in  the  Fifteenth  ward,  on  the  Citizen's  Union  ticket, 
and  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  6$j  votes.  In  the  preced- 
ing Council  both  representatives  from  the  ward  were  Democrats. 
In  1885  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election  on  the  Republican 
ticket,  and  was  returned  by  the  largely  increased  majority  of 
1,195   votes. 

Mr.  Eisfeldt  was  married  in  Chicago,  in  1877,  to  Miss 
Maria  Gnadinger.  They  have  four  bright  children,  William  I., 
Sadie,  Augusta,  and  Edward. 


HENRY  F.   DONOVAN. 

Henry  Francis  Donovan  was  born  in  Whitby,  Ontario, 
August  8,  1858.  His  father,  Christopher  F.  Donovan,  and  his 
mother,  Mary  L.  (Duffy)  Donovan,  were  both  born  in  Canada. 
His  grandfather  emigrated  to  America  from  Ireland  in  1815. 
He  was  a  man  of  learning  and  an  ardent  patriot.  A  great- 
grand-uncle  of  Mr.  Donovan's  sat  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  and 
voted  to  the  bitter  end  against  the  union  with  Britain.  Henry 
F.  Donovan  came  to  Chicago  with  his  parents  when  an  infant, 
and  has  resided  here  ever  since.  He  was  educated,  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  city,  having  first  attended  the  old  Wash- 
ington school,  corner  of  Sangamon  and  Indiana  streets.  When 
thirteen  years  old  he  went  on  the  local  staff  of  the  Chicago 
Evening  Journal,  and  remained  there  ten  years.  His  ex- 
perience on  this  old  and  reliable  Republican  journal  had  no 
influence  on  his  politics,  for  he  was  always  a  Democrat.  In 
1882  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  County  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, and  in  1883  elected  President  of  the  Board,  and  re- 
elected President  in  1884.  In  the  fall  of  the  latter  year  he  was 
unanimously  nominated  by  the  Democratic  County  convention 
for  Clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Cook  county,  and  ran  3,000 
votes  ahead  of  his  ticket,  which  was  defeated  by  large  Republican 
majorities.  June  15.  1885,  he  was  appointed  General  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Free  Delivery  of  the  Chicago  Postoffice,  embrac- 
ing the  Carrier's  Department.  September  17  of  the  same  year 
he  was  elected  President  of  the  Cook  County  Young  Democracy, 
an  organization  at  that  time  embracing    12,000  members.      He 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  565 

resigned  this  office  in  October  following,  and  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  organization  stated  that  duty  to  his  public  position  would 
not  admit  of  his  serving.  He  was  again  elected  a  member  of 
the  County  Board  of  Education  in  September,  1885,  for  a 
term  of  three  years,  and  in  1886  was  elected  President  of  the 
Board  for  the  third  time,  having  declined  prior  elections.  Mr. 
Donovan  is  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Civil  Service  Examiners  ; 
President  of  the  Postoffice  Mutual  Aid  Society  ;  a  member  of 
the  Iroquois,  Cook  county,  and  Algonquin  clubs  ;  of  the  An- 
cient Order  of  United  Workmen;  of  the  Royal  Arcanum;  of 
the  Catholic  Benevolent  Legion,  and  a  charter  member  of  the 
Chicago  Press  Club.  He  was  also  one  of  the  originators  of  the 
old  Second  Regiment.  Popular,  enterprising,  in  politics  aggres- 
sive, a  fluent  orator,  Mr.  Donovan  has  made  a  record  of  which 
his  friends  are  proud.  He  was  married  in  1876  to  Miss  Cornelia 
E.  Cassleman,  daughter  of  Christian  Cassleman,  and  is  the 
father  of  three  children.  He  has  lived  in  the  Fifteenth  ward 
eight  years,  and  occupies  a  well  appointed  home  at  the  corner  of 
Webster  avenue  and  Fremont  street. 


HON.  WILLIAM  E.  MASON. 

William  Ernest  Mason  was  born  in  Franklinville, 'Cattarau- 
gus county,  New  York,  July  7,  1850,  the  son  of  Lewis  and  Nancy 
(Winslow)  Mason.  His  father  was  a  merchant  ;  a  man  of  firm 
principles,  independent  character  and  a  pronounced  Abolitionist. 
The  family  removed  to  Bentonsport,  Van  Buren  county,  Iowa, 
in  1858.  Lewis  Mason  died  in  1865,  and  his  wife  in  1875.  At 
thirteen  years  of  age  William  E.  Mason  entered  Birmingham  col- 
lege, Van  Buren  county,  and  remained  two  years.  During  the  suc- 
ceeding two  years  he  taught  district  school  in  the  winter,  and  for 
two  years  following  taught  at  DesMoines,  where  he  began  to  study 
law  under  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Withrow.  That  gentleman  was  ap- 
pointed General  Solicitor  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific 
railroad  in  1871,  and  Mr.  Mason  came  with  him  to  Chicago 
and  remained  in  his  office  during  the  following  year.  For  the  suc- 
ceeding five  years  he  was  in  the  office  of  John  N.  Jewett.  Here  he 
completed  his  studies  and  perfected  himself  in  practice.  In  1877  he 
formed  a  law  partnership  with  J  udge  M.  R.  M.  Wallace,  which  con- 
tinued until  the  latter  was  appointed  Prosecuting  Attorney.  Mr. 
Mason  has  always  been  a  staunch  Republican;  an  active  worker  for 
the  interests  of  his  party  and  his  exceptional  gift  of  oratory  has  of- 
ten been  brought  into  play  on  the  rostrum  and  in  conventions  dur- 


566  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

ingpolitical  contests.  In  1879  he  was  nominated  and  elected  to  the 
State  Legislature,  and  in  November,  1882,  was  made  the  nominee 
for  State  Senator  from  the  then  newly  organized  Ninth  district, 
and  was  duly  elected  by  a  large  majority.  He  was  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Warehouses  in  the  Thirty-third  Assembly,  and  of 
the  Committee  on  Judiciary  in  the  Thirty-fourth  Assembly,  and 
served  also  as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Judiciary,  Cor- 
porations, Insurance,  Military  Affairs,  and  Miscellany.  His 
record  in  the  General  Assembly  as  a  law  maker  and  supporter  of 
measures  beneficial  to  the  public  made  him  one  of  the  most 
prominent  members.  He  was  a  leading  supporter  of  Gen.  John 
A.  Logan  for  United  States  Senator  in  the  memorable  contest 
of  the  "  103  "  for  supremacy,  and  by  advocating  the  bill  to  abol- 
ish convict  labor  he  gained  many  friends  among  the  laboring 
classes.  In  1883  he  was  elected  Attorney  of  the  Board  of  West 
Park  Commissioners.  In  1884  he  was  induced  to  become  a  can- 
didate for  Congress  in  the  Third  Chicago  district,  and  a  contest 
arose  as  to  the  prerogatives  of  the  District  Committee,  a  portion 
of  whose  members  favored  the  candidacy  of  George  R.  Davis, 
the  retiring  Congressman.  The  matter  was  referred  to  the 
National  Republican  Committee  for  arbitrament,  and  that  body 
decided  in  favor  of  the  claims  of  Mr.  Mason,  and  he  took  the 
field.  The  dissatisfied  element  induced  Gen.  J.  E.  Fitzsimmons 
to  run  also,  and  an  exciting  campaign  followed,  the  inevitable  re- 
sult being  the  election  of  a  Democrat,  James  H.  Ward.  Mr. 
Mason's  friends  have  always  maintained  that  he  was  in  the  right 
in  this  contest  from  the  start,  and  that  after  receiving  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  National  Committee  he  was  more  than  ever  entitled 
to  the  field,  and  the  loss  of  the  seat  in  Congress  to  his  party 
could  not  be  attributed  to  arbitrary  action  on  his  part.  The 
vote  in  the  district  was:  Mason,  10,806;  Fitzsimmons,  8,928  ; 
Ward,  15,601.  In  the  fall  of  1886  Mr.  Mason  was  again  nomi- 
nated for  Congress  by  the  Third  district  Republican  convention, 
and  so  great  was  his  popularity  known  to  be  that  no  formidable 
candidate  cared  to  risk  the  exigencies  of  a  campaign  against  him. 
The  United  Labor  party  placed  a  candidate  in  the  field  in  the 
person  of  Benjamin  W.  Goodhue,  and  the  Prohibitionists  had 
a  candidate,  Mr.  Whitlock.  The  vote  in  the  November  election 
stood:  Mason,  12,701  ;  Goodhue,  6,161  ;  Whitlock,  389;  major- 
ity for  Mr.  Mason,  6,540.  Mr.  Mason  is  noted  for  his  genial 
traits  and  accomplishments.  He  married,  in  1873,  Miss  Julia 
Edith  White,  daughter  of  George  White,  Esq.,  a  wholesale 
merchant  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  and  they  have  six  children. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  567 

CHARLES   KERN. 

Charles  Kern  was  born  at  Otterbach,  Rhenish-Bavaria, 
April  18,  1 83 1,  the  third  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Stemmler) 
Kern.  Until  the  age  of  eighteen  he  profited  by  the  admirable 
educational  facilities  offered  by  the  German  system,  and  he  then 
decided  to  make  his  home  in  the  United  States.  On  his  ar- 
rival here  he  settled  in  Dover,  Tenn.,  but  soon  removed  to  Cin- 
cinnati and  subsequently  to  Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  where  he  was 
engaged  as  clerk  in  a  hotel.  His  first  business  undertaking 
was  the  opening  of  a  hotel  and  restaurant  which  he  conducted 
with  great  success.  His  many  superior  qualities  of  character 
made  him  hosts  of  friends,  and  he  became  the  popular  Demo- 
cratic nominee  for  Sheriff  of  Vigo  county  in  1862.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  war  excitement,  and  the  county  was  regarded  as 
hopelessly  Republican,  and  neither  Mr.  Kern  nor  his  friends 
regarded  his  election  as  probable.  The  unexpected  happened, 
however,  and  Mr.  Kern  was  elected  by  a  gratifying  majority, 
that  testified  to  his  popularity  and  public  confidence  in  his  char- 
acter. He  conducted  the  office  in  such  an  exemplary  manner  that 
his  opponents  failed  to  find  cause  for  criticism  and  he  was  acknowl- 
edged to  have  been  an  exceptionally  good  official.  When  his 
term  expired  in  1864  he  became  interested  in  the  Galr  House  at 
Cincinnati  and  remained  in  that  city  until  October,  1S65,  when 
he  removed  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in  the  restaurant  business, 
which  he  still  conducts  successfully,  having  become  the  best 
known  caterer  in  the  city.  He  lost  his  entire  property  in  the 
great  fire  of  1871,  but,  although  he  collected  only  a  small  per- 
centage of  his  insurance  he  met  all  his  obligations  in  full,  and 
was  among  the  first  to  make  a  new  start  upon  the  ruins  of  his  pros- 
perous business.  He  immediately  caused  to  be  erected  a  tem- 
porary building  on  the  old  site,  and  his  energy  and  confidence 
caused  others  to  have  faith  in  the  destiny  of  Chicago.  In  order 
to  accommodate  many  of  his  patrons  he  also  converted  his  resi- 
dence at  No.  458  Wabash  avenue  into  a  restaurant  and  occu- 
pied it  until  August,  1872.  The  immense  building  operations 
speedily  put  under  way  compelled  him  to  vacate  his  old  site  and 
he  rented  a  building  near  the  corner  of  La  Salle  and  Monroe 
streets,  which  he  occupied  until  June,  1872,  when  he  removed  to 
no  La  Salle  street,  his  present  location,  to  which  subsequently 
he  added  No.  108,  and  he  now  conducts  one  of  the  largest  and 
best  appointed  restaurants  in  the  city.  Mr.  Kern  speedily 
achieved  popularity  and   standing  upon   his  advent  in  Chicago. 


568  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

In  1868  he  was  made  the  Democratic  nominee  for  Sheriff  of 
Cook-  county,  and  as  the  county  was  largely  Republican  he  was 
defeated.  He  was  re-nominated  unanimously  as  the  choice  of 
his  party  in  1870  and  again  in  1872,  and  although  defeated  he 
ran  4,000  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket.  In  1876  he  was  for  the 
fourth  time  nominated  unanimously  and  this  time  was  elected 
by  a  majority  of  6,000,  running  10,000  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket, 
which  was  defeated  by  average  majorities  of  4,000.  His  conduct 
of  the  office  was  characterized  by  economy  and  strict  regard  for 
the  public  interests,  and  left  no  room  for  partisan  criticism.  In 
1878  it  was  thought  Mr.  Kern's  popularity  would  redeem  Cook 
county  from  the  apathy  aroused  among  the  Democrats  by  the 
failure  to  seat  Mr.  Tilden,  and  he  was  re-nominated,  and  although 
he  ran  10,000  ahead  of  his  ticket  and  lacked  only  3,000  of 
election,  the  inertness  of  his  own  party  killed  the  ticket,  the 
other  candidates  being  defeated  by  average  majorities  of  13,000. 
Mr.  Kern,  while  a  strict  Democrat  and  a  party  man,  has  always 
maintained  personal  independence,  and  has  held  views  at  variance 
with  many  party  leaders.  He  has  been  prominently  mentioned 
in  connection  with  various  offices  of  importance,  but  of  late 
years  declined  political  honors  in  order  that  he  might  devote 
his  attention  to  his  business  interests.  Upon  the  advent  of  the 
Democratic  National  administration  his  friends  pressed  him 
forward  for  United  States  Marshal,  and  for  a  time  he  held  first 
place  in  the  race,  but  the  contest  was  decided  by  the  appointment 
of  a  compromise  candidate.  In  December,  1885,  he  waselected 
President  of  the  Cook  County  Democratic  club  and  he  speedily 
strengthened  and  improved  the  serviceability  of  the  club  by  re- 
organizing it  under  a  new  constitution.  In  the  fall  of  1886  he  re- 
ceived prominent  mention  for  Sheriff  and  also  for  County  Treas- 
urers many  party  leaders  held  him  to  be  available  for  either  place. 
Upon  the  opening  of  the  campaign  he  was  unanimously  elected 
Chairman  of  the  Cook  County  Democratic  Campaign  Commit- 
tee, and  at  once  entered  into  the  conduct  of  the  campaign  with 
his  accustomed  energy  and  ability.  He  is  a  prominent  and  in- 
fluential member  of  the  Iroquois  club  of  which  he  was  Vice- 
President  one  year,  and  throughout  the  Democratic  organization 
his  judgment  is  respected,  and  he  is  given  credit  for  great  dis- 
crimination and  political  sagacity.  Mr.  Kern's  chief  recreation  is 
in  the  line  of  field  sports,  and  he  is  a  crack  shot.  He  was  Pres- 
ident of  the  Prairie  shooting  club,  one  of  the  first  sportsmen's 
organizations  in  Chicago ;  has  been  for  seven  years  President  of 
the  Audubon  Club,  and  in   1885  was  elected  President  of  the 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS.  569 

Illinois  State  Sportsmen's  Association,  and  he  has  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  framing,  passage  and  enforcement  of  the  game 
laws  of  the  state.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Washington  Park 
club,  and  though  not  claiming  to  be  a  turfman,  always  keeps  a 
number  of  good  roadsters  that  can  show  speed  on  occasion. 
He  is  a  member  of  Ashlar  Lodge  No.  303,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of 
Washington  Chapter  No.  43,  R.  A.  M.,  and  of  Chicago  Com- 
mandery  No.  19,  Knights  Templar.  He  married  in  1852,  Miss 
Mary  A.  Whitman,  of  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  and  they  have  two  children, 
Josephine  and  Henry  W. 


CHRISTIAN  CASSLEMAN. 

Christian  Cassleman,  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  pop- 
ular of  Chicago's  old  residents  and  self  made  men,  was  born  in 
Utica,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  in  1829.  He  came  to  Chicago 
in  1855  and  engaged  in  business  as  a  tanner,  which  he  has  fol- 
lowed successfully  ever  since.  From  a  small  beginning,  Mr.  Cas- 
sleman's  tannery  has  grown  to  its  present  splendid  proportions. 
He  also  operates  a  large  mitten  factory,  and  still  another  enter- 
prise, is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  mattresses.  His  public 
spirit  has  brought  him  actively  to  the  front  in  all  matters  con- 
cerning the  welfare  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and  no  man  in  the 
community  has  enjoyed  the  regard  of  the  people  to  a  greater  de- 
gree. His  genial  disposition  attracts  to  him  many  warm  and 
steadfast  friends.  An  incident  illustrating  his  indomitable  will 
and  devotion  to  the  people  will  not  be  out  of  place  here.  Many 
citizens  will  remember  the  failure  of  the  Western  Marine  Bank 
early  during  the  war.  The  bank  failed  on  a  Saturday.  The 
day  before  (Friday)  Mr.  Cassleman,  who  was  Treasurer  of  the 
draft  fund  of  the  old  Twelfth  ward,  had  deposited  $12,000  in  the 
bank  to  the  credit  of  that  fund.  The  money  was  taken  in,  and 
not  a  word  uttered  as  to  the  insolvency  of  the  institution.  The 
next  morning  it  did  not  open  its  doors.  Mr.  Cassleman,  accom- 
panied by  a  large  number  of  persons  interested  in  the  fund, 
started  for  the  bank.  He  gave  the  officers  fifteen  minutes  in 
which  to  pay  back  the  money  or  be  strung  up  by  the  excited 
crowd.  The  $12,000  was  forthcoming  at  once.  Mr.  Cassleman 
was  elected  to  the  City  Council  in  1863  and  1  866,  as  a  Democrat, 
both  times  from  a  strong  Republican  ward,  and  against  very 
strong  opponents.  In  1865  he  was  unanimously  nominated  by 
the  Democratic  party  for  the  office  of   Commissioner   of    Public 


570  POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 

Works,  but  the  chances  of  the  party  were  wrecked  by  the  feeling- 
growing  out  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  which  oc- 
curred shortly  before  election  day.  In  1876  Mr.  Cassleman  was 
a  strong  supporter  of  Mr.  Tilden.  In  1877  he  was  nominated 
for  County  Commissioner,  but  failed  of  election,  although  run- 
ning far  in  the  lead  of  his  ticket.  In  1878  he  was,  against  his 
will,  nominated  and  elected  West  Town  Collector,  by  thelargest 
majority  of  any  man  on  the  ticket.  In  1880  he  was  unanimously 
nominated  for  Sheriff  by  the  Democracy,  and  ran  4,000  votes 
ahead  of  his  ticket.  In  1885  ne  was  again  nominated  for  County 
Commissioner,  against  his  will,  and  was  triumphantly  elected. 
He  has  served  faithfully  and  well  in  the  County  Board.  Mr. 
Cassleman  and  his  friends  may  well  be  proud  of  his  political 
record.  He  has  never  solicited  a  nomination,  and  has  always 
ran  ahead  of  his  ticket. 

Mr.  Cassleman  was  married  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  in  May,  1851, 
to  Miss  Ellen  Croak.  They  have  three  sons  and  one  daughter 
living.  Christian  Cassleman,  Jr.,  is  in  business  for  himself.  In 
1884  he  was  elected  West  Town  Collector,  and  in  1886  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  Commissioners  of  Election,  but  resigned  the 
office  after  a  few  months.  Joseph  Ward  Cassleman  is  in  the  tan- 
nery business  with  his  father,  and  Edwin  is  attending  school. 
The  daughter,  Cornelia  E.,  is  the  wife  of  Henry  F.  Donovan,  the 
well  known  General  Superintendent  of  the  Postal  Delivery. 


WILLIAM  P.  WHELAN. 

William  Patrick  Whelan,  Alderman  for  two  terms  of  the 
First  ward,  was  born  December  9,  1849,  m  tne  °^  Lake  House, 
at  the  corner  of  North  Water  and  Rush  streets.  His  father, 
Martin  Whelan,  was  born  in  County  Wexford,  Ireland,  and  came 
to  Chicago  in  the  fall  of  1845.  His  mother,  Rosanna  (White) 
Whelan,  was  the  daughter  of  Colonel  P.  H.  White,  who  settled 
here  in  1832  ;  a  prominent  man  among  the  old  settlers,  and  the 
first  Street  Commissioner  of  Chicago.  William  P.  Whelan  is 
well  known  to  the  present  generation  of  native  born  Chicagoans. 
He  first  attended  the  old  Dearborn  school  on  Madison  street, 
and  afterward  took  a  course  at  the  Christian  Brothers'  college, 
corner  of  Van  Buren  street  and  Fourth  avenue.  His  first  em- 
ployment was  as  Cashier  in  the  Continental  Billiard  Hall,  in 
Walker's  Block,  adjoining  the  old  Matteson  House  on  Dearborn 
street,  which  was,  twenty  years  ago,  a  celebrated  resort  of  poli- 
ticians and  public  men.     After  the  fire  of  1871  he  went  to   Kan- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  571 

sas  City,  and  remained  a  year,  being  employed  with  Coates' 
Omnibus  Company.  He  returned  and  started  in  the  liquor  bus- 
iness at  167  Adams  street,  and  remained  until  1881  in  this  loca- 
tion, when  he  opened  the  Theatre  Comique  on  West  Madison 
street.  He  next  engaged  in  business  at  4.7  La  Salle  street ;  re- 
moved to  123  Monroe  street,  and  thence  in  the  spring  of  1884  to 
No.  194  Clark  street,  his  present  location.  He  has  always  been 
a  straight  out  Democrat,  and  from  an  early  age  took  an  active 
interest  in  politics,  in  connection  with  David  Thornton,  Aid. 
Thomas  Foley,  Dan.  O'Hara,  Phil.  Conley,  and  others.  He 
enjoys  great  popularity  ;  is  generous  and  obliging,  and  is  ever 
willing  to  assume  personal  inconvenience  to  do  his  friends  a  favor. 
For  a  period  of  ten  years  he  was  in  the  front  rank  of  opposition  to 
unfair  primaries  and  elections,  and  always  fought  the  "machine." 
In  April,  1884,  he  ran  as  an  independent  candidate  for  Alderman 
against  Moses  J.  Wentworth,  the  Democratic  nominee,  and  was 
elected  by  a  majority  of  1,268  votes.  In  the  spring  of  1886  he 
was  made  the  regular  Democratic  nominee,  and  in  the  face  of  a 
bitter  fight  from  the  united  opposition  defeated  Francis  W. 
Warren,  Republican,  by  a  majority  of  52.  He  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  City  and  County  Central  Committees  in  1884,  suc- 
ceeding Joseph  C.  Mackin,  and  continues  to  represent  his  ward 
in  these  bodies.  As  an  Alderman  he  has  been  instrumental  in 
securing  many  permanent  improvements  in  the  First  ward.  He 
is  a  member  of  Court  Acme,  No.  55;  Independent  Order  of 
Foresters  ;  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  ;  of  the  Irish  Nationalists, 
and  of  the  Benevolent  Order  of  Elks. 


JAMES  J.   McGRATH. 

James  Joseph  McGrath  was  born  December  15,  1838,  near 
Arthurstown,  County  Wexford,  Ireland.  His  father,  John  Mc- 
Grath, died  in  1885,  at  the  age  of  83  years,  and  his  mother, 
Bridget  [McNamara]  McGrath  is  still  living  in  Ireland  at  the 
age  of  75  years.  James  J.  McGrath  attended  the  public  schools 
in  his  native  place;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1854,  and  re- 
sided for  some  time  in  New  York  with  an  uncle,  where  he 
attended  the  public  schools.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1856  and 
has  since  resided  here,  except  two  years  spent  in  the  South  be- 
fore the  war,  and  several  months  spent  in  a  visit  to  the  old  coun- 
try in  1867.  He  learned  the  cooper  trade  and  for  several  years 
was  foreman  and  paymaster  of  the  large  cooperage  of  the  old 
Chicago    Distilling  Company,    of   which    Erastus  Rawson    was 


572  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS,  ' 

President,  and  Walter  S.  Gurnee,  ex-Mayor  of  Chicago,  was 
Treasurer.  He  finally  purchased  the  shops  and  land  in  1865, 
and  succeeded  to  the  business.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  from  1865  to  1869.  He  has  been  a  steadfast  Republi- 
can in  politics  since  i860,  and  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
President  in  that  year,  his  residence  in  the  South  having  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  forming  his  political  sentiments.  For  some  years 
prior  to  1869  he  took  a  somewhat  active  interest  in  politics,  and 
in  the  latter  year  was  elected  to  the  Common  Council  over  T. 
D.  Hull,  from  what  is  now  the  Fourteenth  ward;  was  re-elected 
to  the  Council  in  1871  over  John  Vantwood ;  again  in  1873  over 
Christian  Cassleman,  and  again  in  1880  over  Frank  A.  Stauber, 
the  Socialist,  and  the  celebrated  Stauber-McGrath  contest, 
already  detailed  in  these  pages,  ensued.  In  1881  when  Stauber 
ran  for  City  Treasurer  and  received  1,999  in  the  city,  lie  was 
again  a  candidate  for  Alderman  of  the  Fourteenth  ward,  and 
received  947  votes  against  three  opponents — Clemens  Hirsch, 
Thomas  Ryan,  and  Peter  Peterson.  He  was  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Fire  and  Water  during  the  memorable  fight  ovei 
the  location  of  the  present  West  Division  Waterworks,  and  at 
that  time  made  an  exhaustive  report  on  the  folly  of  trying 
to  furnish  an  additional  water  supply  by  having  artesian 
wells,  which  was  strongly  advocated  by  the  Chicago  Trib- 
une. He  was  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  in  1874, 
in  which  year  he  resigned  from  the  Council  and  was  elected  im- 
mediately after  to  the  office  of  City  Tax  Commissioner,  serving 
in  that  capacity  for  two  years,  when  the  office  was  abolished. 
He  was  elected  in  1873,  while  a  member  of  the  Council,  to  the 
State  Senate,  from  what  was  then  the  Fifth  district,  comprised  of 
the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Seventeenth  wards,  and  it  was 
principally  through  his  efforts  that  the  law  making  it  a  criminal 
offense  for  employers  to  blacklist  their  employes  by  preventing 
them  from  obtaining  employment  for  any  cause,  was  passed.  He 
also  introduced  the  bill,  which  became  a  law,  prohibiting  city 
authorities  in  Illinois  from  licensing  houses  of  ill-fame.  In  1875 
he  became  an  Independent  candidate  for  Mayor,  and  was  de- 
feated by  Monroe  Heath.  He  has  been  employed  by  the  Abstract 
department  of  Cook  county  since  1876,  and  has  had  principal 
charge  of  tax  matters  during  that  time. 

Mr.  McGrath  was  first  married  to  Miss  Mary  Gibbons  of 
Pekin,  111,  who  died  in  November,  1878.  He  was  married  a  sec- 
ond time  in  September,  1881,  to  Belinda  Fay  of  Chicago,  and 
has  nine  children  living. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  573 

HON.  CHARLES  B.  FARWELL. 

Hon.  Charles  B.  Farwell  was  born  at  Painted  Post,  a  small 
village  in  Steuben  county,  New  York,  July  i,  1823.  He  was 
educated  at  the  Elmira  Academy,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years 
came  west  with  his  father.  The  family  settled  on  a  farm  in  Ogle 
county,  Illinois,  and  for  some  time  young  Farwell  followed  land 
surveying.  After  a  time  he  found  agricultural  life  incompat- 
ible, and  in  January,  1844,  ne  came  to  Chicago  to  seek  his 
fortune,  having  nothing  upon  which  to  build  it  up  save  energy 
and  determination.  The  first  post  he  obtained  was  that  of 
assistant  or  deputy  clerk  to  George  Davis,  then  County  Clerk. 
He  had  not  been  in  the  department  very  long  before  Davis  was 
incapacitated  by  illness,  and  the  task  of  opening  the  County 
Commissioner's  Court  devolved  upon  young  Farwell.  He  car- 
ried on  the  affairs  of  the  office  in  the  absence  of  his  principal  for 
four  months,  when  the  latter  returned  and  the  young  man  re- 
sumed his  accustomed  sphere,  adding,  meanwhile,  to  his  not  too 
abundant  resources  by  spending  his  evenings  in  the  employ  of  a 
dry  goods  house.  That  he  was  economical  and  husbanded  his 
resources  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  in  November,  1845 — ^ess 
than  two  years  after  his  arrival  in  the  city — he  effected  his  first 
purchase  of  real  estate.  He  turned  his  attention  to  tjie  piece  of 
land  on  Jefferson  street,  on  which  Crane  Brothers'  ironworks 
now  stand,  and  finally  bought  it  out,  paying  for  it  $100  in 
cash  and  giving  a  note  for  the  balance.  The  value  of  the  same 
piece  of  property  is  now  estimated  at  all  the  way  from  $25,000 
to  $35,000.  He  left  the  County  Clerk's  office  early  in  1846, 
having  received  $200  and  board  for  the  preceding  year's  service. 
He  entered  the  real  estate  office  of  J.  B.  F.  Russell  at  $400  a  year 
and  staid  there  three  years,  receiving  an  advance  of  $ioo  in  sal- 
ary for  the  last  two  years  of  service.  In  1849  ne  entered  the  bank- 
ing house  of  George  Smith  and  became  principal  teller,  remaining 
there  until  1853.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  nominated  for  County 
Clerk,  and  was  duly  elected,  his  defeated  opponent  being  Dr.  E. 
S.  Kimberly.  Mr.  Farwell  served  a  term  of  four  years;  was  re- 
elected and  retired  from  the  office  in  1861,  again  turning  his 
attention  to  real  estate  and  business  pursuits.  He  reorganized 
the  entire  system  of  keeping  the  county  records,  and  his  admin- 
istration of  the  office  was  particularly  able.  In  1864  he  formed 
a  connection  with  his  brother  in  the  house  of  John  V.  Farwell  & 
Co.,  purchasing  an  interest  from  his  brother.  With  Mr.  Farwell's 
keen  insight  in  the  business,  and  his  able  management,  the  house 
at  once  took  rapid  strides  toward  its  present  great  proportions. 


574  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

In  1867  Mr.  Farwell  was  elected  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  and 
was  made  Chairman  of  the  Board,  and  during  his  term  the 
wings  of  the  old  Courthouse  which  was  destroyed  in  the  fire  were 
erected.  In  1870  he  was  nominated  by  the  Republicans  for 
Congress  against  John  Wentworth,  who  was  running  as  an  Inde- 
pendent candidate.  A  notable  campaign  ensued,  which  resulted 
in  the  election  of  Mr.  Farwell  by  a  large  majority.  He  was  re- 
elected in  1872,  and  again  in  1874.  He  forsook  politics  for  a 
season  when  his  latter  term  expired,  but  in  1878  he  ran  again 
for  Congress  and  was  duly  elected.  Of  late  years  Mr.  Farwell 
has  been  conspicuously  brought  forward  for  Governor,  United 
States  Senator,  Mayor,  and  other  important  offices,  but  has 
evinced  no  personal  desire  to  again  enter  official  life.  Mr.  Far- 
well  has  been  active  in  politics  since  1844  I  a  member  of  the  Re- 
publican State  Central  Committee  for  many  years  ;  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  in  1872,  and  he  has  ever  been  one  of  the  principal 
contributors  to  campaign  funds.  He  has  always  been  found  a 
faithful  supporter  of  the  Republican  party  and  its  candidates,  and 
has  played  an  important  part  in  many  State  and  National  con- 
ventions and  campaigns.  The  public  services  of  Mr.  Farwell- 
are  many,  and  he  has  been  one  of  the  principal  builders  up  of 
the  business  district,  owning  many  fine  structures  occupied  for 
business  purposes.  It  was  through  his  instrumentality  also  that 
the  completion  of  the  Washington  street  tunnel  was  effected,  after 
the  original  contractors  had  left  it  in  a  condition  of  almost  total 
wreck.  He  furnished  the  bulk  of  the  capital  for  its  reconstruc- 
tion, and  under  his  supervision  the  work  was  pushed  forward  to 
a  finish  in  a  creditably  short  space  of  time.  His  public-spirited- 
ness  and  liberality  in  assisting  all  worthy  enterprises  is  a  matter 
of  note,  and  though  avoiding  ostentation  himself,  there  are 
many  who  know  of  his  benefactions  to  various  charities,  and  in- 
numerable instances  where  he  has  held  out  a  helping  hand  to 
the  deserving  unfortunate.  For  many  years  he  has  been  the  lar- 
gest contributor  to  the  funds  of  the  Lake  Forest  University,  an 
institution  under  the  management  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
which  is  of  great  public  usefulness.  In  connection  with  Col. 
Abner  Taylor  and  others  he  is  now  conducting  the  construc- 
tion of  the  great  State  Capitol  building  of  Texas.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Union  League  Club;  the  Commercial  Club; 
the  Banker's  Club,  and  Chicago  Club,  having  been  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  latter.  Mr.  Farwell  was  married  October  11, 
1852,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Smith,  of  Williamstown,  Mass.,  and  has 
a  family  of  four  children. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  575 

HON.  GEORGE  R.  DAVIS. 

George  R.  Davis  was  born  in  1840  in  the  town  of  Palmer, 
Mass.  His  father,  Benjamin  Davis,  was  a  native  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  his  mother,  Cordelia  (Buffington)  Davis,  of  Connecti- 
cut, her  family  being  one  of  well  known  Quakers.  When  17 
years  of  age  George  R.  attended  Williston  Seminary  at  East 
Hampton,  from  whence  he  graduated.  For  a  period  of  two 
years  he  was  engaged  in  business  with  his  father  at  Springfield, 
Mass.  In  July,  1*862,  he  enlisted  in  Co.  H,  Eighth  Massachusetts 
Volunteer  Infantry  ;  was  commissioned  Captain,  joined  the  Eigh- 
teenth Army  Corps,  and  served  in  the  North  Carolina  campaign 
until  August,  1863,  when  he  resigned  his  commission  and  returned 
to  Massachusetts,  where  he  organized  a  battery  of  light  artil- 
lery. He  next  became  Captain  of  the  Third  Rhode  Island  Cav- 
alry ;  was  promoted  to  Major  in  December,  1863,  and  commanded 
the  regiment  in  many  of  the  principal  battles  of  the  war,  and 
until  its  close.  He  was  next  transferred  to  the  Department  of 
the  Missouri,  and  served  under  Gen.  Phil.  Sheridan  on  the 
plains,  and  was  with  Gen.  Custer  in  the  battles  on  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  Washita,  in  which  Chief  "Black  Kettle"  and  his  band 
were  defeated.  Col.  Davis  was  three  times  wounded  ;  once  at 
the  battle  of  Pleasant  Hill,  during  the  war,  and  tw"ice  during 
the  campaign  on  the  plains.  He  first  came  to  Chicago  with 
Gen.  Sheridan  in  1869  ;  resigned  from  the  army  May  1,1871,  and 
went  into  the  insurance  business,  accepting  the  agency  of  the 
Hartford  Insurance  Company,  and  this  position  he  held  for  a 
number  of  years.  Col.  Davis,  as  may  be  supposed  from  his  war 
record,  has  always  been  a  staunch  Republican,  and  while  engaged 
in  business  was  brought  into  prominence  as  an  active  party 
leader.  In  the  close  and  exciting  State  and  National  campaign 
of  1876,  when  the  Democrats  and  Greenbackers  effected  a 
fusion  on  the  Illinois  state  ticket,  and  Tilden  was  the  popular 
Democratic  candidate  for  President,  Col.  Davis  was  made  the 
Republican  nominee  for  Congress  in  the  old  Second  district, 
against  Carter  H.  Harrison,  who  had  been  re-nominated  by  the 
Democrats,  and  the  vote  stood  :  Harrison,  14,732  ;  Davis,  14,090. 
He  was  re-nominated  in  the  same  district  in  1878,  and  was 
elected  over  Miles  Kehoe,  Ind.  Dem.,  James  Felch,  Labor; 
James  Condon,  Dem.,  and  George  A.  Schilling,  Socialist,  by  a 
plurality  of  4,236  votes.  He  was  again  nominated  for  Congress 
in  1880,  and  was  elected  by  a  plurality  of  4,589  votes  over  John 
F.  Farnsworth,  Ind.,  C.  G.  Dixon,  Greenback-Labor,  and  Rein- 


576  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

hard  Lorenz,  Socialist.  In  1882  the  districts  having  been 
changed,  he  was  nominated  to  represent  the  new  Third  district, 
and  was  elected  by  a  plurality  of  2,237  over  William  P.  Black, 
Democrat,  and  C.  G.  Hay  man,  Independent.  Col.  Davis  was  a 
member  of  the  State  and  County  Central  committees,  and  a  del- 
egate in  National  conventions,  having  taken  a  prominent  and 
active  part  in  the  latter  in  1880  and  1884.  In  his  every  move- 
ment in  politics  he  has  been  a  consistent  Republican,  and  has 
acted  in  the  interest  of  his  party  as  his  best  judgment  dictated. 
In  1884  a  contest  arose  in  the  Third  district  over  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Congressional  committee,  and  Col.  Davis  and  William 
E.  Mason  both  took  the  field  as  candidates.  Col.  Davis  submit- 
ted to  arbitrament  by  the  National  committee,  and  withdrew 
from  the  contest,  after  which  Gen.  J.  E.  Fitz  Simons  entered  the 
field,  and  the  result  was  the  election  of  a  Democrat.  In  the 
spring  of  1885  Col.  Davis  was  given  great  prominence  as  a  candi- 
date for  the  Mayoralty,  and  although  the  party  management 
was  in  the  hands  of  his  friends  he  withdrew  in  the  interest  of 
harmony  and  became  Chairman  of  Judge  Sidney  Smith's  cam- 
paign committee,  and  by  hard  work  and  experienced  and  capable 
management  he  was  mainly  instrumental  in  reducing  the  accus- 
tomed large  Democratic  majorities,  and  making  the  result  so 
close  as  to  necessitate  the  famous  Smith-Harrison  contest.  In 
the  fall  of  1886  he  was  made  the  nominee  of  the  Cook  county 
Republican  convention  for  County  Treasurer,  and  although  he 
was  made  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  bitter  partisan  opposition 
aroused  in  this  campaign,  he  won  a  complete  and  highly  gratify- 
ing victory.  Notwithstanding  that  his  Democratic  opponent, 
Michael  Schweisthal,  received  29,966  votes  ;  Stauber,  Socialist- 
Labor,  the  large  and  unexpected  number  of  25,437  votes,  and 
Bush,  Prohibition,  the  important  number  of  1,413  votes,  Col. 
Davis1  plurality  was  9,165.  In  Congress  he  achieved  great 
prominence,  and  brought  about  much  legislation  of  public  im- 
portance, being  mainly  instrumental  in  securing  large  appropri- 
ations for  the  improvement  of  the  Chicago  harbor.  He  is  noted 
for  genial  and  generous  traits  of  character  ;  is  true  to  his  friends  ; 
an  enterprising  citizen,  and  a  capable  public  official.  He  was 
united  in  marriage  July  25,  1867,  to  Miss  Gertrude  Schulih 
of  New  Orleans,  and  they  have  six  children,  two  sons  and  four 
daughters. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  577 

HON.    ABNER   TAYLOR. 

Abner  Taylor  was  born  in  Bangor,  Maine,  January  19, 
1829.  His  father,  Daniel  W.  Taylor,  and  his  mother,  Sophia 
(Dean)  Taylor,  were  both  born  in  Maine,  and  his  father  was  a 
farmer.  His  parents  removed  to  Ohio  when  Abner  was  four 
years  old  and  settled  in  Champaign  county,  and  Abner  was 
raised  on  a  farm  and  attended  district  school  until  he  reached 
his  majority.  In  185 1  he  removed  to  Illinois,  settling  in 
McLean  county, 'and  went  into  the  business  of  buying  cattle. 
For  a  period  of  three  years  he  bought  and  herded  cattle  and 
drove  them  to  Philadelphia,  the  trip  consuming  one  hundred 
days.  He  next  located  in  Clinton,  De  Witt  county,  and  entered 
government  land  until  1857,  when  he  went  to  Fort  Dodge, 
Iowa,  and  took  the  contract  for  building  the  Courthouse  there, 
and  also  entered  the  business  of  merchandising,  buying  out  and 
conducting  a  dry-goods  store.  He  remained  in  Fort  Dodge 
until  i860,  when  he  removed  to  Aurora,  111.,  and  bought  out  E. 
and  A.  Woodworth's  wagon  manufactory  in  company  with 
Thomas  Snell,  Samuel  L.  Keith  and  Hiram  Butterworth,  and 
here  he  continued  in  business  for  three  years.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  he  was  in  Fort  Dodge  and  enlisted  there,  but  was 
rejected  on  account  of  a  defect  in  his  eyesight ;  he  again  enlisted 
at  Aurora,  but  did  not  succeed  in  passing  examination.  When 
General  Orme  was  appointed  Special  Agent  of  the  Treasury  to 
supervise  the  admission  of  supplies  through  the  lines  and  take 
charge  of  goods  abandoned  by  the  Confederates,  he  selected  Col. 
Taylor  as  his  deputy,  and  he  joined  Gen.  Orme  at  his  headquarters 
in  Memphis  and  remained  until  after  the  close  of  the  war.  From 
Memphis  he  came  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in  buying  real  estate, 
which  he  has  followed  ever  since,  although  at  times  he  has  en- 
gaged in  railroad  building  and  other  extensive  contract  work. 
His  first  purchase  of  Chicago  real  estate  was  twenty-seven  acres 
near  Milwaukee  and  Chicago  avenues  from  the  agent,  Judge 
Van  H.  Higgins,  for  $81,000,  or  $3,000  an  acre,  on  which  he 
paid  $3,000  down  and  owed  the  balance.  This  property  he  sub- 
divided and  sold  in  lots.  He  had  great  confidence  in  the  future 
greatness  of  Chicago,  and  that  the  speculation  was  a  wise  one 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  while  the  balance  of  the  purchase 
price  was  paid  many  years  ago,  Col.  Taylor  yet  holds  some  of 
this  valuable  property.  His  first  contract  after  locating  in 
Chicago  was  one  for  street  paving  in  Memphis  ;  amounting  to  a 
million  dollars,  which  he  sold  out  when  about  half  completed.    In 


578  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

1869,  in  company  with  Thomas  Snell  and  James  Aiken,  he  went 
to  railroad  building,  and  built  some  of  the  most  important  main 
lines  and  branches  in  Illinois  and  Iowa,  among  others  the  Chi- 
cago and  Southwestern  ;  the  La  Fayette,  Bloomington  and  Mis- 
sissippi;  the  La  Fayette  and  Muncie  ;  the  Cincinnati  and  Deca- 
tur Short  Line  ;  a  line  for  the  I.  13.  &  W.,  and  smaller  branches. 
In  1881  he  became  connected  with  the  Chicago  and  Pacific  Ele- 
vator Company  in  connection  with  W.  H.  Harper,  and  is  Presi- 
dent of  the  Company.  Two  elevators  were  built  by  the  Com- 
pany, both  on  Goose  Island,  and  they  are  among  the  largest  in  Chi- 
cago, each  having  a  storage  capacity  of  1,500,000  bushels  of  grain. 
When  the  panic  of  1873  disturbed  the  business  of  the  country,  Col. 
Taylor  closed  up  his  contracts  and  went  to  Europe,  where  he 
remained  a  year.  Again  in  1879  ne  went  abroad  for  a  year  and 
he  did  no  further  business  in  the  line  of  contracting  until  in  1882. 
in  connection  with  J.  V.  and  C.  B.  Farwell  and  Col.  A.  C.  Bab- 
cock,  he  took  a  contract  to  build  the  Texas  Statehouse,  at 
Austin,  the  largest  capitol  building  in  the  United  States,  except 
the  National  Capitol  at  Washington.  For  the  construction  of 
this  building,  according  to  the  plans  adopted  by  the  state,  the 
builders  received  a  grant  of  3,000,000  acres  of  land  in  North- 
west Texas,  on  the  "Panhandle,1'  and  they  now  have  this  land 
all  under  fence  and  75,000  head  of  cattle  on  it.  When  this  con- 
tract is  completed,  it  is  Col.  Taylor's  intention  to  again  retire 
from  active  business  pursuits.  He  is  an  entirely  self-made  man 
and  his  success  in  life  is  due  to  habits  of  toil  and  self-sacrifice, 
and  a  faculty  for  seeing  and  taking  advantage  of  favorable  op- 
portunities for  progress.  He  is  a  bachelor,  and  as  he  says  him- 
self, has  had  no  time  to  get  married.  For  several  years  he  has 
taken  an  active  interest  in  politics  and  has  been  given  promi- 
nence in  connection  with  important  offices.  In  1884  he  was 
elected  to  the  Illinois  Legislature  from  the  Third  Chicago  dis- 
trict, and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  Haines  Speakership  con- 
test and  the  famous  fight  of  the  "103"  for  Gen.  John  A.  Logan 
for  United  States  Senator. 


MILES  KEHOE. 


The  Legislative  Manual  of  1873  gives  the  birthplace  of 
Miles  Kehoe  as  Ireland,  and  his  occupation  as  a  laborer.  He 
was  born  in  1846,  came  to  Chicago  with  his  parents  in  1847,  and 
they  settled  in  that  portion  of  the  city  now  comprised  in  the 
Second  Congressional  district,  which  then  contained  but  few  peo- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  579 

pie.  Miles  attended  the  Foster  school  and  ex-County  Commis- 
sioner Spofford  taught  him  his  letters.  He  graduated  from  the 
Foster  school  in  1863,  and  immediately  set  about  earning  a  live- 
lihood. Having  a  natural  gift  of  oratory,  as  the  West  side  wards 
began  to  grow  in  population,  he  took  an  active  part  in  public 
meetings,  held  for  the  purpose  of  securing  improvements,  and  in 
various  political  movements.  In  1872  he  ran  for  State  Senator 
against  J.  H.^Hildreth  and  the  late  R.  P.  Derrickson  in  the  old 
Third  district,  composed  of  the  Fifth,  Sixth,  and  Seventh  wards, 
and  was  re-elected  in  1874  by  a  great  popular  vote.  He  was 
the  first  laborer  elected  to  office  from  the  district,  and  the  young- 
est man  elected  to  the  State  Senate  up  to  that  time.  In  1873  he 
took  a  prominent  and  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the  People's 
party,  and  was  Chairman  of  the  Campaign  committee.  In 
1875,  after  the  charter  of  1872  was  adopted,  and  Mayor  Col- 
vin  claimed  the  right  to  hold  over,  he  opposed  the  charter  and 
Colvin's  claims  ;  made  speeches  in  various  great  public  meetings  ; 
went  before  the  Grand  Jury  and  gave  evidence  that  led  to  the  in- 
dictment of  the  Sixth  ward  new  charter  ballot-box  stuffers  ;  was 
Secretary  of  the  great  Exposition  Building  mass-meeting  at 
which  Thomas  Hoyne  was  nominated  for  Mayor,  .and  in  com- 
pany with  Judge  Otis  and  Mr.  Prussing,  was  appointed  as  a  com- 
mittee to  wait  on  Mayor  Colvin  and  demand  his  resignation.  In 
1877  ne  opposed  Carter  H.  Harrison  for  Congress  and  secured 
the  nomination,  and  in  return  was  opposed  in  the  field  by  W.  H. 
Condon,  James  Felch  and  George  Schilling,  and  was  defeated  by 
George  R.  Davis,  Rep.  Mr.  Kehoe  refused  $5,000  and  his  ex- 
penses on  this  occasion  to  leave  the  field.  Originally  a  Democrat, 
Mr.  Kehoe,  like  many  others  in  his  party,  voted  for  Gen.  Grant 
for  President  against  Horace  Greeley,  in  1872,  and  from  then  on 
his  independent  feelings  increased  until,  on  account  of  offensive 
party  usages,  he  became  an  out  and  out  Republican.  In  the 
General  Assembly  he  always  acted  independent  of  caucus  rule,  as 
shown  in  1876  in  the  memorable  struggle  over  the  election  of 
Judge  David  Davis  to  the  United  States  Senate.  He  was  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Municipalities  for  four  years,  and  se- 
cured the  passage  of  valuable  laws  for  Chicago  and  other  cities. 
His  first  efforts  were  to  compel  the  West  Park  Commissioners  to 
expend  a  pro  rata  of  the  Park  funds  on  Douglas  Park,  till  then 
neglected  ;  he  wrote  and  had  passed  the  Police  and  Firemen's 
pension  law,  now  in  force  in  Chicago  ;  he  was  the  first  to  agitate 
the  abolition  of  convict  labor,  and  at  several  sessions  came  within 
a  few  votes  of  enough  to  pass  a  bill  for  that  purpose ;  he  origi- 


580  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

nated  and  put  through  the  bills  abolishing  the  old  system  of  town 
elections  that  caused  great  confusion  ;  introduced  and  was 
mainly  instrumental  in  having  passed  the  back-tax  bill,  which 
brought  nearly  $2,000,000  of  back  taxes  into  the  city  Treasury  ; 
and  in  1877  he  introduced  and  had  passed  in  the  Senate  a 
bill  to  regulate  primary  elections,  which  contained  all  the  salient 
features  of  the  present  law,  but  the  bill  failed  to  pass  the  House. 
In  1882  he  was  Chairman  of  John  F.  Finerty's  Congressional  com- 
mittee, and  of  other  committees.  He  has  always  labored  for  the 
public  interests  ;  has  maintained  independence  above  party ;  has 
opposed  so-called  "  machine  "  politics,  and  has  been  the  enemy 
of  corruption  in  any  form. 


GEORGE  H.  MUELLER. 

George  Henry  Mueller,  representative  of  the  Second  ward  in 
the  City  Council,  was  born  in  Schleswig,  Germany,  February  19, 
1850,  the  son  of  William  Mueller  and  Marie  (Jurgens)  Mueller. 
His  father  pursued  the  calling  of  a  stone  cutter.  George  H. 
Mueller  came  to  the  United  States  in  1866,  and  settled  at  Blue 
Island,  near  Chicago,  where  he  worked  at  farming  for  six  years. 
In  1872  he  removed  to  the  city,  and  went  into  the  grocery 
and  flour  and  feed  business  at  675  Milwaukee  avenue.  This 
business  he  subsequently  sold  out,  and  then  opened  a  wholesale 
liquor  store  on  Paulina  street,  in  the  Fourteenth  ward.  In  1875 
he  opened  a  billiard  hall  at  675  State  street,  in  company  with 
John  Leiendecker.  In  June,  1876,  he  started  in  the  hotel  busi- 
ness at  Nos.  488  and  490  State  street,  and  Mueller's  hotel  speedily 
became  the  leading  Republican  political  headquarters  of  the 
Second  ward.  Mr.  Mueller  was  always  a  Republican  in  politics 
except  in  1873,  when  he  supported  Harvey  D.  Colvin  for  Mayor, 
and  was  an  adherent  to  the  latter  during  the  Colvin-Hoyne  con- 
test. He  was  brought  prominently  forward  for  Alderman  in 
i88oand  1882,  and  in  1884 declined  the  nomination.  The  Second 
ward  had  been  solidly  Democratic  as  to  Alderman  for  eight 
years,  and  Aid.  Patrick  Sanders,  the  incumbent,  was  deemed 
invincible.  In  the  spring  of  1886  Mr.  Mueller  was  made  the 
regular  Republican  nominee,  accepted,  and  after  an  exciting 
campaign,  defeated  Aid.  Sanders  by  a  majority  of  676  votes. 
His  defeated  opponent  contested  his  election  on  the  score  of  in- 
eligibility on  account  of  non-citizenship,  and  a  series  of  legal  con- 
tests ensued  in  the  courts,  resulting  in  the  victory  for  Aid.  Muel- 
ler in  every  instance,  and  his  retention  of  his  seat.     He  showed 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  581 

that  he  had  been  naturalized  in  June,  1871  ;  that  the  official 
records  had  been  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  October  8,  1871, 
and  that  his  papers  were  destroyed  in  the  fire  of  July  14,  1874. 
In  the  last  fire  he  lost  all  his  effects  and  the  accumulation  of 
several  years  of  labor  and  successful  business  enterprises.  Since 
being  in  the  Council  Aid.  Mueller  has  secured  many  needed  im- 
provements for  his  ward,  and  has  retained  his  popularity  among 
his  friends.  He  was  married  October  14,  1875,10  Miss  Augusta 
Quade  of  Blue  Island,  and  they  have  three  children,  all  boys, 
aged  ten,  seven,  and  five  years,  respectively. 


LAWRENCE  E.  McGANN. 

Lawrence  Edward  McGann,  Superintendent  in  charge  of 
the  Department  of  Streets,  was  born  in  County  Galway,  Ireland, 
February  2,  1852.  His  father,  Edward  McGann,  was  a  farmer, 
he  died  in  1854.  His  mother,  Bridget  (Ford)  McGann,  is  resid- 
ing with  her  son  in  Chicago.  Lawrence  McGann  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1855,  and  settled  in  Milford,  Mass.  He  at- 
tended the  public  school  there  for  several  years,  and  in  August, 
1865,  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  while  he  worked  during  the 
summer  he  attended  school  in  the  winter  for  some  years,  and 
attended  besides  a  private  school  kept  by  Prof.  Robertson,  at  the 
corner  of  Franklin  and  Michigan  streets.  Until  June,  1879,  ne 
was  employed  in  a  shoe  manufactory,  and  he  always  took  a  deep 
interest  in  questions  affecting  labor.  He  was  of  a  studious  dis- 
position and  well  informed  on  labor  matters,  and  in  sympathy 
with  all  legislation  proposed  to  amend  the  condition  of  the  in- 
dustrial classes.  In  1878,  when  the  Greenback-Labor  party  was 
formed  he  was  active  in  advancing  its  interests  locally.  He  had 
read  up  on  the  currency  question,  and  being  a  fluent  speaker,  he 
achieved  great  prominence.  He  was  a  delegate  in  the  Green- 
back-Labor convention  at  Greenebaum's  hall,  in  March,  1879, 
and  favored  the  nomination  by  that  convention  of  Carter  H. 
Harrison  for  Mayor.  While  his  sympathies  have  been  with 
labor,  he  has  always  been  a  Democrat,  voting  first  for  Samuel  J. 
Tilden  in  1876.  In  June,  1879,  he  was  appointed  to  a  position 
in  the  city  water  office,  and  on  January,  1,  1885,  was  appointed 
Superintendent  of  Streets  to  succeed  William  Fogarty.  Prior 
to  his  appointment  he  had  made  himself  conversant  with  street 
grading,  paving  and  roadway  improvements,  and  is  considered 
an  expert  in  such  matters,  and  he  is  now  quoted  as  authority  in 
pavement  problems   of  importance  to  all  great   cities.      He  is 


582  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

energetic,  reliable  and  genial,  and  stands  high  in  the  estimation 
of  his  friends.  He  was  married  May  1,  1883,  to  Miss  Mary 
White  of  Chicago,  and  they  have  one  child,  a  son,  aged  two 
years. 

THEODORE  T.  GURNEY. 

Theodore  T.  Gurney.who  for  over  seven  years  acted  as  City 
Comptroller  during  the  administration  of  Mayor  Carter  H.  Har- 
rison, died  of  paralysis  November  9,  1886,  at  the  age  of  66  years. 
He  was  an  able  financier  and  a  distinguished  Free  Mason.  He 
was  born  in  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y.,  September  4,  1820  ;  came  West 
in  1838,  locating  at  Sturgis,  Mich.  He  became  a  Free  Mason  in 
1848,  joining  Union  Lodge,  Union  City,  Mich.  In  1850  he  was 
a  Justice  of  the  Peace  at  Constantine,  Mich.;  in  1853  he  returned 
to  New  York  and  was  appointed  by  President  Pierce,  Deputy 
Collector  of  Customs  at  Sackett's  Harbor.  He  came  to  Chicago 
in  April,  1856,'and  entered  the  employ  of  Munger  &  Armour,  ele- 
vator men,  as  bookkeeper.  In  1861  he  was  appointed  Chief 
Grain  Inspector,  and  after  three  years  in  this  position  engaged 
in  the  commission  business  on  the  Board  of  Trade.  In  1876  he 
was  elected  West  Town  Supervisor,  and  in  May,  1879,  was  ap- 
pointed City  Comptroller  by  Mayor  Harrison. 

After  the  great  fire  had  devastated  the  city  Mr.  Gurney  was 
one  of  the  most  active  citizens  in  aiding  the  sufferers.  As  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  Relief  Committee  he  helped  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  $91,000,  which  was  raised  by  that  benevolent  Order 
for  the  benefit  of  the  victims  of  the  fire.  Mr.  Gurney  received 
every  degree  of  Masonry.  He  received  the  thirty-third  degree 
as  an  honorary  member  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  the  N.  M.  J. 
of  the  United  States  in  November,  1871.  He  was  Master  of 
Siloam  Lodge,  Michigan,  Sackett's  Harbor  Lodge,  New  York, 
and  Cleveland  Lodge,  Chicago,  High  Priest  of  Sackett's  Harbor 
Chapter;  Commander  of  Apollo  Commandery,  No.  1  ;  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  Oriental  Consistory  ;  Grand  Master  of  Illi- 
nois, 1879-80;  and  Grand  Commander  of  the  Grand  Command- 
ery of  Illinois,  1875. 

He  was  married  in  May,  1848,  to  Miss  Eunice  Smith,  at 
Sackett's  Harbor,  N.  Y.,  and  has  two  sons— Chester  S.,  a  mem- 
ber of  St.  Bernard  Commandery,  K.  T.,  and  Theodore  E.,  yet  a 
minor. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,   AND  ILLINOIS.  583 

EFFORTS    TO    RELEASE   JOSEPH    C.    MACKIN. 

About  May  i,  1886,  efforts  were  begun  to  secure  the  pardon 
of  Joseph  C.  Mackin  from  the  sentence  to  which  he  was  made 
subject  in  the  Criminal  Court  of  Cook  county,  and  several  per- 
sons most  prominent  in  securing  his  conviction  joined  in  the  pe- 
tition for  his  pardon,  these  proceedings  extending  through  the 
fall.  On  September  29  Mr.  John  C.  Richberg,  attorney  for 
Mackin,  filed  a  petition  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  behalf  of 
his  client,  in  the  Supreme  Court  at  Ottawa.  Michael  C.  McDon- 
ald was  the  petitioner.  The  petition  recited  :  Mackin  is  illegally 
imprisoned  on  a  charge  of  perjury  committed  July  7,  1885,  while 
testifying  as  an  involuntary  witness  on  the  subject  matter  on 
which  he  had  been  indicted  in  the  United  States  District  Court 
on  January  12,  1885.  The  petition  further  sets  forth  that  at  the 
October  term,  1884,  of  the  United  States  District  Court,  Mackin 
was  indicted  for  an  offense  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
and  a  true  bill  and  indictment  found  against  him  on  section  5512 
of  the  same.  His  imprisonment  while  under  bonds  and  his  fail- 
ure to  respond  to  the  indictment  in  the  United  States  Court  will, 
it  is  alleged,  forfeit  his  bonds,  which  are  given  in  the  sum  of 
$50,000,  with  M.  C.  McDonald,  John  W.  Crawford,  Dennis  Kav- 
anaugh,  and  August  Mette,  as  bondsmen.  The  petitioner 
contends  that  the  Criminal  Court  of  Cook  county-could  not 
have  taken,  tried,  and  sentenced  Mackin,  had  he  been  confined 
in  any  United  States  prison  or  in  the  direct  custody  of  a  United 
States  officer,  and  hence  it  had  no  jurisdiction  while  he  was 
legally  in  such  custody,  even  if  he  was  allowed  his  liberty  upon  the 
surety  of  bondsmen.  Even  though  out  on  bail,  he  was  not  out  of 
the  custody  of  the  United  States  Court,  and  could  not  be  legally 
held  and  tried  by  the  Criminal  Court  of  Cook  county  until  the 
other  was  done  with  him.  Another  argument  advanced  is  that 
the  Cook  county  Grand  Jury  called  him  to  testify  before  it  upon 
the  very  questions  upon  which  he  was  being  investigated  before 
the  United  States  Court,  and  he  should  not  have  been  forced 
virtually  to  try  his  case  beforehand,  and  in  another  court.  The 
petition  in  full  covered  ten  pages  of  brief,  and  the  arguments  and 
authorities  cited  about  twenty  pages  more,  and  the  points  raised 
were  considered  new  and  important.  The  Court  took  the  petition 
under  advisement. 

The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  rendered  Septem- 
ber 30  by  Justice  Schofield,  and  it  embodied  a  refusal  to  release 
Mackin.  It  was  held  that  where  a  person  commits  an  offense 
against  two  separate  jurisdictions  the  jurisdiction  first  obtaining 


5S4  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

custody  of  him  is  entitled  to  try  him  as  a  matter  of  law.  The 
opinion  goes  on  to  say  that  the  Court  could  not  consent  to  rec- 
ognize it  to  be  the  law  that  where  a  person  under  small  bonds 
for  a  slight  offense  against  the  United  States  could  not  be  ar- 
rested and  punished  by  the  State  for  murder  while  he  was  out 
on  bail,  which  would  be  a  consequence  of  Mackin's  position. 

John  C.  Richberg,  Joseph  C.  Mackin's  attorney,  said  that 
he  was  not  much  surprised  or  disappointed  at  the  action  taken 
by  the  Supreme  Court  in  refusing  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  ap- 
plied for.  "  Had  it  not  been  for  a  decision  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  last  March,  in  which  it  was  held  that  the  proper 
course,  in  a  case  of  this  kind,  where  a  jurisdiction  of  a  State 
Court  and  of  the  United  States  Courts  appear  to  conflict,  was 
to  take  the  matter  before  a  State  Court,  I  would  have  taken 
the  matter  right  to  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,"  he  said. 
"You  see,  we  claim  that  Mackin  was  illegally  taken  by  the  State 
for  trial  on  the  charge  of  perjury  while  he  was  under  bail  await- 
ing a  decision  of  the  United  States  Court  on  a  federal  crime. 
The  State  Court,  in  its  decision,  admitted  that  this  would  have 
been  grounds  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  had  Mackin  been  taken 
by  the  State  from  the  hands  of  the  Marshal,  but  it  drew  a  distinc- 
tion between  his  being  in  the  Marshal's  custody,  and  being  out 
on  bail." 

The  Cook  County  Republican  Convention  was  held  in  "  Bat- 
tery D"  Armory,  August  29,  1886,  and  the  following  ticket  was 
nominated: 

Superior  Court  Judges — R.  S.  Tuthill,  Elliott  Anthony, 
Kirk  Hawes,  and  R.  S.  Williamson. 

County  Judge — Mason  B.  Loomis. 

Probate  Court  Judge — J.  C.  Knickerbocker. 

Sheriff — Canute  R.  Matson. 

Treasurer — George  R.  Davis. 

County  Clerk — Henry  Wulff. 

Criminal  Court  Clerk — James  H.  Gilbert. 

Probate  Court  Clerk — Thomas  W.  Sennott. 

County  Superintendent  of  Schools — Albert  G.  Lane. 

County  Commissioners — Frank  Schubert,  William  Williams, 
Henry  Engelhardt,  Murray  Nelson,  J.  Frank  Aldrich. 

The  Cook  County  Democratic  Convention  was  held  at 
North  Side  Turner  hall,  September  18,  and  the  following  ticket 
was  nominated  : 

County  Commissioners — St.  Clair  Sutherland,  John  A. 
King,  John  Dowdle,  Bernhard  Niebling,  and  Ernst  Hummel. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  585 

Superior  Court  Judges — Egbert  Jamieson,  Frank  Baker, 
John  P.  Altgeld,  and  Jeremiah  Learning. 

County  Court  Judge — Richard  Prendergast. 

Probate  Court  Judge — J.  C.  Knickerbocker. 

County  Superintendent  of  Schools — Charles  I.  Parker. 

Sheriff — William  Best. 

Treasurer — Michael  Schweisthal. 

Criminal  Court  Clerk — James  M.  Doyle. 

Probate  Court  Clerk — James  W.  Kleckner. 

County  Clerk — Michael  Mclnerney. 

Mr.  Best  subsequently  withdrew,  from  business  considera- 
tions, and  the  name  of  George  Kerstens  was  substituted.  The 
proper  political  divisions  were  not  subserved  by  the  change,  and 
Mr.  Kerstens  voluntarily  withdrew,  and  John  Mattocks  was  sub- 
stituted as  the  candidate. 

John  A.  King  declined,  and  Claude  J.  Adams  became  a 
candidate  for  Commissioner  in  his  stead. 

The  convention  at  Greenebaum's  hall,  already  referred  to, 
which  was  controlled  by  the  Socialists,  was  held  September  27, 
and  the  following  mixed  ticket,  called  the  "United  Labor" 
ticket,  was  nominated  : 

State  Treasurer — John  Budlong,  Knight  of  Lab©r. 

State  Superintendent  of  Schools — I.  L.  Brower,  Green- 
backer. 

County  Judge — Richard  Prendergast,  Democrat. 

Probate  Judge — J.  C.  Knickerbocker,  Republican. 

Superior  Judges — John  P.  Altgeld,  Democrat;  Egbert 
Jamieson,  Democrat  ■  Kirk  Hawes,  Republican  ;  Elliott  Antho- 
ny, Republican. 

County  Treasurer — Frank  Stauber,  Socialist. 

Sheriff— M.  J.  Butler,  Labor. 

County  Clerk — Samuel  J.  Rastall,  Labor. 

Criminal  Court  Clerk — F.  J.  Dvorak,  Socialist. 

Probate  Court  Clerk — Paul  Ehmann,  Socialist. 

County  Commissioners — James  Barry,  Agitator  ;  J.  J.  Alt- 
peter,  Alex.  Eilert,  James  H.  Bancroft,  and  George  Dean,  So- 
cialists. 

Most  of  the  balance  were  Socialists,  with  a  few  Laboring 
men. 

Congress,  1st  District — Hervey  Sheldon,  Jr. 

Congress,  2d  District  —  Daniel  F.  Gleason. 

Congress,  3d  District — Benj.  W.  Goodhue. 


586  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS, 

Congress,  4th  District — Samuel  A.  Hawkins. 

Superintendent  of  Instruction — Homer  Bevans. 

Senator,  1st  District — John  C.  Boyd. 

Senator,  3d  District — William  Bruce. 

Senator,  5th  District — Charles  F.  Seib. 

Senator,  7th  District — Michael  Drew. 

Senator,  9th  District — C.  S.  Wheeler. 

Senator,  nth  District— R.  M.  Burke.  « 

Senator,  13th  District — Michael  Luci. 

Representative,  1st  District — James  O'Connor. 

Representative,  2d  District — W.  P.  Wright. 

Representative,  3d  District — Oscar  E.  Leinen. 

Representative,  5th  District — Leo  P.  Dwyer. 

Representative,  6th  District — M.  J.  Dwyer. 

Representative,  7th  District — Frank  Thomas. 

Representative,  9th  District — C.  G.  Dixon. 

Representative,  nth  District — George  Rohrback. 

Representative,  13th  District — V.  Karlowski. 

The  following  was  the  County  platform  adopted  : 

1.  We  demand  the  abolition  of  all  county  toll  roads.  2. 
The  abolition  of  the  contract  system  on  all  county  work.  3.  The 
purchase  of  county  supplies  in  open  market.  4  The  frequent 
inspection  of  county  penal  and  charitable  institutions  by  a  state 
board  of  inspection.  5.  That  women  shall  serve  on  such  boards 
equally  with  men,  for  the  reason  that  women  are  confined  in 
these  institutions  as  well  as  men.  6.  And  we  demand  of  our 
courts  as  full  and  fair  a  hearing  for  the  poorest  citizen  as  is  ac- 
corded to  citizens  of  wealth  or  moneyed  corporations.  7.  We 
demand  a  just  and  effective  system  of  state  insurance.  8.  That 
all  fines  against  inmates  of  houses  used  for  immoral  purposes 
shall  be  levied  upon  and  collected  from  the  property,  and  not 
from  the  inmates.  9.  That  all  election  days  shall  be  compulsory 
holidays,  during  which  all  ordinary  business  shall  be  suspended. 
10.  That  the  subdivisions  known  as  the  town  of  North  Chicago, 
town  of  West  Chicago,  and  town  of  South  Chicago,  shall  be  abol- 
ished, and  that  there  shall  hereafter  be  for  the  city  of  Chicago 
one  assessor,  one  collector,  one  supervisor,  and  one  clerk,  n. 
That  all  lands  held  for  speculative  purposes  shall  be  taxed  equally 
with  cultivated  lands. 

The  Prohibitionists  met  in  Convention  at  118  Fifth  avenue 
in  August,  and  nominated  the  following  ticket : 

Sheriff — F.  W.  Loomis. 

Treasurer — William  H.  Bush. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  587 

County  Clerk — H.  S.  Haggard. 

Clerk  of  Criminal  Court — G.  K.  Tompkins. 

Probate  Clerk— E.  R.  Woirell. 

County  Superintendent  of  Schools — Prof.  W.  Wilkie. 

County  Commissioners— B.  S.  Mills,  W.  H.  Wilson,  S.  H. 
St.  John,  B.  F.  Lantryman,  and  George  C.  Bugbee. 

The  platform  declared  in  favor  of  absolute  prohibition,  and 
opposed  political  affiliations  with  other  parties. 

Monday  evening,  October  4,  the  Cook  County  Labor  League 
held  a  convention  at  the  North  side  Turner  hall,  composed  of 
190  delegates  from  various  labor  organizations,  which  repudi- 
ated the  action  of  the  Greenebaum  hall  convention,  and  placed 
in  nomination  the  following  ticket : 

Sheriff— John  M.  Dunphy. 

County  Clerk — Michael  Mclnerney. 

County  Treasurer — Michael  Schweisthal. 

Probate  Court  Clerk — J.  W.  Kleckner. 

Criminal  Court  Clerk — Frank  G.  White. 

County  Judge — Richard  Prendergast. 

Superior  Court  Judges — John  P.  Altgeld,  Egbert  Jamieson, 
Frank  Baker,  Rollin  S.  Williamson. 

Probate  Judge— J.  C.  Knickerbocker. 

Superintendent  of  Schools — Albert  G.  Lane. 

County  Commissioners — Frank  J.  Niebling,  John  Beegan, 
St.  Clair  Sutherland,  John  Dowdle,  Patrick  Murphy. 

Congress,  1st  District — Edgar  Terhune. 

Congress,  2d  District — Frank  Lawler. 

Congress,  3d  District — William  E.  Mason. 

Congress,  4th  District — William  McNally. 

State  Senate,  1st  District — George  E.  White. 

State  Senate,  3d  District — Isaac  Abrahams. 

State  Senate,  5th  District — H.  Ruger. 

State  Senate,  7th  District — Henry  Batterman. 

State  Senate,  nth  District — E.  C.  Burke. 

State  Senate,  13th  District — John  F.  O'Malley. 

The  following  preamble  and  resolutions  and  platform  of 
principles  were  adopted  : 

The  delegates  of  the  Cook  County  Labor  League,  in  con- 
vention assembled,  hereby  enact  the  following  preamble  and  res- 
olutions as  its  platform  of  principles  : 

Whereas,  We  believe  the  time  has  arrived  when  organized 
labor  should  unhesitatingly  assert  its  right  to  recognition  as  a 
factor  in  our  political  fabric,  and 


5$S  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Whereas,  We  deem  it  advisable  at  this  time  to  more  clearly 
define  our  position,  and  give  expression  to  our  views  of  the  needs 
of  the  wage-workers  of  the  city  of  Chicago  and  Cook  county, 
and 

Whereas,  The  duly  accredited  delegates  chosen  by  regularly 
convened  caucuses  of  fellow-workmen  of  their  several  organized 
trades  and  assemblies  of  Knights  of  Labor  were  denied  the  right 
to  participate  in  the  late  "so-called"  labor  convention;  there- 
fore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  first  duty  of  this  convention  to  re- 
pudiate and  denounce  the  action  of  the  self-constituted  committee 
of  twenty-one,  acting  as  a  committee  on  credentials,  in  falsely 
assuming  to  represent  the  sentiment  of  organized  labor  in  Chi- 
cago and  Cook  county,  and  ostracizing  and  disfranchising  a  large 
portion  of  the  regularly  chosen  delegates  to  the  convention  called 
for  September  23. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  assembled  to  vindicate  our  rights  as 
the  untrammeled  representatives  of  honest  labor,  to  rebuke  the 
insolence  and  presumption  of  said  committee,  and  set  the  seal  of 
popular  condemnation  upon  their  high-handed  and  unprecedented 
arrogance. 

Resolved,  That  the  congressional  and  legislative  nominees 
of  this  convention  of  the  Cook  County  Labor  League  be  required 
to  pledge  themselves  to  use  their  honest  endeavors  to  obtain  laws 
for  the  protection  of  labor  and  the  repeal  of  those  detrimental  to 
it;  to  favor  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  state  constitution 
for  the  abolition  of  contract  convict  labor,  and  the  discontinuing 
of  all  existing  contracts  upon  terms  just  and  equitable  to  the 
state  and  contractors  ;  to  favor  the  enactment  of  an  eight-hour 
law,  to  apply  in  general  to  all  wage-workers  in  whatever  branch 
of  business  throughout  the  state,  with  suitable  penalties  for  vio- 
lations ;  to  favor  the  enactment  of  a  law  to  compel  the  payment 
of  wages  weekly,  and  in  lawful  money  of  the  United  States. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND    ILLINOIS. 


589 


There  have  been  elected  in  Chicago  and  from  districts  of 
which  Cook  county  formed  a  part,  twenty-two  Congressmen, 
whose  names,  politics,  districts,  and  duration  of  terms  will  be 
found  annexed. 


Name. 

Politics. 

District. 

Duration  of  Term. 

John    Wentworth 

Democrat 

Fourth,  Second 

1843  to  1851    Democrat,    1853  to 

and  First 

1855  Dem.,  1855  to  1867  as  Rep. 

Richard  S.  Molony. . . . 

Democrat. ....... 

Fourth 

1851  to  1853. 

James  H.  Woodworth. . 

Democrat   

Second 

1S55  to  1857. 

John   F.  Farnsworth. . . 

Republican 

Second. ... 

1857  to  1861  and  1863  to  1873. 

Isaac  N.   Arnold 

Republican 

Second  and  First 

1861  to  1863  and  1863  to  1865. 

Norman  B.  Judd 

Charles  B.   Farwell. . . . 

Republican 

Republican  

1867  to  1871 

First  and  Third. 

1871  to  1873,  and  1873  to  1875, 

and  1881  to  1883. 

John  L.    Beveridge.... 

Republican 

Evanston 

Filled  out  the  vacancy  of  John  A. 
Logan  from  the  state  at  large, 
1871  to  1873. 

John  B.  Rice 

Republican 

First 

1873  to  December, '74,  when  he  d. 

First 

1875  to  1877. 

William  Aldrich 

Republican 

First ' 

1877  to  1883. 

Jasper  D.  Ward 

Carter  H.  Harrison  .. 

Republican 

Democrat   

1873  to  1875. 

Second 

1875  to  1879. 

George  R.  Davis 

Republican   

Second  and  Third 

1879  to  1883,  and  1883  to  1885. 

John  V.  LeMoyne 

Lorenz   Brentano 

Democrat 

Third 

May  6,  1876,  to  1877. 

Republican 

Third 

1877  to  1879. 

Hiram    Barber,  Jr 

Republican 

Republican 

Independent  Dem, 

Third. 

1879  to  1881. 

1883  to  date. 

John  F.  Finerty 

Second 

1883  to  1885. 

George  E.  Adams. 

Republican 

Fourth    

1883  to  date. 

1885  to  date. 

James  H.  Ward      

Democrat. . .  . 

Third 

1885  to  date. 

List  of  the  Sheriffs  of  Cook  county,  from   the  organization 
of  the  county  in  1831,  to  the  year  1886. 


1831.  James  Kinzie. 

1832.  Stephen  Forbes. 
1834.   Silas  W.  Sherman. 
1836.   Silas  W.  Sherman. 
1838.    Isaac  R.  Gavin. 
1840.   Ashbel  Steele. 
1842.   Samuel  J.  Lowe. 
1844.   Samuel  J.  Lowe. 
1846.   Isaac  Cook. 
1848.   Isaac  Cook. 

1850.  William  L.  Church. 
1852.   Cyrus  P.  Bradley. 
1854.  James  Andrew. 
James  S.  Beach,  Coroner,  and 
ex-officio  Sheriff,  from  April 
28,  '55,  to  November,  1856. 
1856.  John  L.  Wilson. 


1858.  John  Gray. 

i860.   Anthony  C.  Hesing. 

1862.   David  Hammond. 

1864.  John  A.  Nelson. 

1866.  John  L.  Beveridge. 

1868.   Gustav  Fischer. 

Benj.  L.  Cleaves,  Coroner, 
and  ex-officio  Sheriff,  from 
April  15,  1870,  to  Novem- 
ber, 1870. 

1870.   Timothy  M.  Bradley. 

1872.  Timothy  M.  Bradley. 

1874.   Francis  Agnew. 

1876.   Charles  Kern. 

1878.  John  Hoffman. 

1880.   Orrin  L.  Mann. 

1882.   Seth  F.  Hanchett  to  date. 


590 


POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 


ILLINOIS    DELEGATES  IN  CONGRESS,     1 885-6. 


SENATORS. 


John   A.    Logan,     Chicago,     term    expires   1891. 
Shelby  M.  Cullom,  Springfield,  "  "         1889. 


CONGRESSMEN. 

Ransom  W.  Dunham 

Frank  Lawler 

James  H.  Ward        - 

George  E.  Adams 

A.  J.  Hopkins  -   ■ 

Robert  R.  Hitt      - 

Thomas  J.  He7iderson 

Ralph  Plumb 

Lewis  E.  Payson       ... 

N.  E.  Worthington 

W.   H.  Neece 

James  Milton  Riggs 

William   M.   Springer 
Jonathan  H.  Rowel/ 
Joseph   G.   Cannon     - 

Silas  Z.   Landes    - 

John  R.  Eden    .... 

William  R.  Morrison     - 

R.   W.   Townshend   - 
Joh?z  R.   Thomas 
Republican  members  in  italic. 


-     Chi 


Aurora. 

Mount  Morris. 

Princeton. 

Streator. 

Pontiac. 

Peoria. 

Macomb. 

-    Winchester. 

Springfield. 

Bloomington. 

Danville. 

Mount  Carmel. 

-     Sullivan. 

Waterloo. 

Shawneetown. 

Metropolis. 


COOK  COUNTY  OFFICIALS. WITH  RESPECTIVE  SALARIES. 

Probate  Judge,  J.  C.  Knickerbocker  ...         $7,000 

County  Judge,  R.  Prendergast        -----       7,000 
Judges  Superior  Court,  Gwynn  Garnett,  H.  M.  Shepard, 
J.  E.  Gary,   Egbert  Jamieson,   Kirk  Hawes,  Elliott 
Anthony,  John  P.  Altgeld,  each  -  7,000 

Judges  Circuit  Court,  Thomas  Moran,  W.  K.  McAllister, 

Murray  F.  Tuley,  L.  C.  Collins,  John  G.  Rogers,  each.    7,000 
States  Attorney,  Julius  S.   Grinnell     -  6,600 

County  Attorney,  E.  R.   Bliss 5,000 

Clerks  of  Commissioners,  T.  F.  Bailey,  David  McCarthy    2,500 
County  Physician,  T.  J.  Bluthardt       -  2,500 

Superintendent  of  Schools,  A.  G.  Lane  - 
County  Clerk,  Michael  W.  Ryan         - 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  591 

Chief  Clerk,  William  Kirby $2,000 

Clerk  of  County  Court,  M.  W.  Ryan        -         -         -  3,000 

Chief  Deputy,  Emil  Hoechster      -         -         -     .    -         -  2,000 

Clerk  Superior  Court,  P.  McGrath     ....  3,000 

Chief  Clerk,  William  Caffrey 2,000 

Clerk  Circuit  Court,  Henry  Best       ....  3,000 

Clerk  Criminal  Court,  John  Stephens   ....  3,000 

Principal  Deputy,  J.  M.  Doyle           ....  2,000 

Chief  Clerk,  Chris  Mamer     ------  2,000 

Clerk  Probate  Court,  Thomas  W.  Sennott       -         -  3,000 

Chief  Clerk,  Frank  Lane        ------  2,000 

Recorder  of  Deeds,  Wiley  S.  Scribner      ...  3,000 

County  Treasurer,  Wm.  C.  Seipp          ....  4,000 

Principal  Normal  School,  F.  W.  Parker    -         -         -  5,000 

Sheriff,  Seth  F.  Hanchett 6,000 

Chief  Deputy,  C.  R.  Matson 2,000 

Jailer,  Conrad  Foltz      -         - 1,000 

County  Commissioners,  John  Hannegan,  Geo.  C.  Klehm, 
R.  M.  Oliver.  M.  R.  Lyden,  C.  F.  Lynn,  F.  A.  Mac- 
Donald,  Peter  Fortune,  J.  J.  McCarthy,  R.  S.  Mc- 
Cloughrey,  Frank  Nelsen,  Christian  Geils,  John  E. 
Van  Pelt,  Henry  Hemmelgarn,  Daniel  J.  Wren,  C. 
Casselman.  The  Commissioners  are  allowed  by  law 
$5  per  diem. 

ADDENDA. 

HISTORY    OF    PRESIDENTIAL    ELECTIONS. 

The  first  Presidential  election  held  in  the  United  States  of 
America  was  upon  the  first  Wednesday  in  January,  1789,  the 
Continental  Congress  having  closed  its  own  career  by  ordering 
the  choice  of  electors,  who  were  to  appoint  the  first  President. 
It  was  the  4th  of  March  when  inauguration  occurred.  The 
choice  of  George  Washington  for  President  and  John  Adams 
for  Vice-President,  was  unanimous.  There  were  sixty-nine  elect- 
ors only.  The  second  election  occurred  in  1792,  when  the 
father  of  his  country  was  again  unanimously  elected.  John 
Adams  was  re-elected  Vice-President.  Only  eleven  states  voted 
at  the  first  election;  fifteen  states,  however,  voted  at  this  election, 
North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island  having  ratified  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  Vermont  and  Kentucky  being  admitted.  There  were 
132  electors. 

The  third  election  occurred  in  1796.  John  Adams  received 
71   electoral   votes  ;    Thomas  Jefferson,  69  ;    Thomas  Pinckney, 


592  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

59,  and  Aaron  Burr,  38.  Thus  Adams  became  President  and 
Jefferson  Vice-President.  There  were  sixteen  states  voting  this 
time,  Tennessee  being  admitted.  Mr.  Adams  was  a  Federalist, 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  an  anti-Federalist. 

The  fourth  election  occurred  in  1800.  Adams  and  Pinckney 
received  64  and  63  electoral  votes,  while  Jefferson  and  Burr  had 
each  73.  They  were  anti-Federal  or  Republicans.  The  election 
not  deciding,  on  account  of  a  tie  vote,  which  should  be  Presi- 
dent, Jefferson  or  Burr,  the  House  of  Representatives  gave  it  to 
Jefferson.  It  took  seven  days  and  36  ballots  to  reach  a  result, 
party  feeling  was  so  bitter. 

The  fifth  election  occurred  in  1804.  The  Republicans 
nominated  Thomas  Jefferson  and  George  Clinton,  and  the 
Federalists  Charles  C.  Pinckney  and  Rufus  King.  Jefferson 
and  Clinton  received  162  votes;  Pinckney  and  King  only  14. 
Ohio  being  admitted,  seventeen  states  voted  this  trip. 

The  sixth  election  occurred  in  1808.  James  Madison  and 
George  Clinton  were  put  up  by  the  Republicans,  and  Pinckney 
and  King  again  represented  the  Federalists.  Madison  received 
123  electoral  votes;  Clinton,  113,  and  Pinckney  and  King,  47 
each.      George  Clinton  died  before  the  end  of  his  term. 

The  seventh  election  was  in  1812.  Madison  and  Elbridge 
Gerry  were  elected,  with  128  electoral  votes.  Louisiana  voted 
this  time,  making  eighteen  states.  The  opposition  gave  DeWitt 
Clinton  89  votes,  and  Ingersoll  57. 

The  eighth  election  occurred  in  18 16.  The  Republicans 
placed  in  the  field  James  Monroe  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins. 
Monroe  was  elected  by  183  votes,  while  Rufus  King  received 
only  34.  Indiana  was  admitted  this  year,  and  eighteen  states 
consequently  voted. 

The  ninth  election  was  in  1820.  Monroe  and  Tompkins 
were  re-elected  unanimously.  Twenty-three  states  voted  this 
time,  Mississippi,  Illinois,  Alabama  and  Maine  coming  in.  Thus 
the  Republicans  had  ruled  for  twenty-four  successive  years,  under 
three  Presidents  who  were  re-elected,  and  all  citizens  of  Virginia. 

The  tenth  election  was  in  1824.  Twenty-four  states  voted, 
Missouri  being  admitted.  The  whole  number  of  electors  was 
260;  necessary  to  a  choice,  131.  Andrew  Jackson  received  99; 
John  Quincy  Adams,  84;  William  H.  Crawford,  41,  and  Henry 
Clay,  31.  The  House  of  Representatives  selected  a  President 
from  the  three  highest  candidates.  John  Quincy  Adams  re- 
ceived the  votes  of  thirteen  states,  and  was  declared  elected. 
John  C.  Calhoun  receiving  132  electoral  votes,  was  made  Vice- 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND   ILLINOIS.  593 

President.  Eighteen  states  appointed  electors  by  a  popular 
vote,  and  six  through  the  Legislatures. 

The  eleventh  election  was  held  in  1828.  Andrew  Jackson 
and  John  C.  Calhoun  were  elected.  Jackson  received  178  and 
Adams  171  electoral  votes.  The  popular  vote  was  650,028  for 
Jackson,  and  512,158  for  Adams. 

The  twelfth  election  was  in  1852.  Jackson's  grit  on  the 
tariff  question  secured  his  re-election,  and  Martin  Van  Buren 
was  made  Vice-President.  The  Whig  party  put  up  Henry  Clay, 
and  John  Sargeaht  for  Vice-President.  Jackson  received  682,502 
popular  and  219  electoral  votes;  Clay,  550,189  and  49. 

The  thirteenth  election  was  in  1836.  Twenty-six  states 
voted  this  time,  Michigan  and  Arkansas  coming  in.  There  were 
294  electors,  and  148  was  necessary  to  a  choice.  Van  Buren  re- 
ceived 762,149  popular  votes,  and  170  electoral.  The  united 
popular  vote  of  William  H.  Harrison  and  Daniel  Webster  was 
736,736,  and  124  electoral. 

The  fourteenth  election  was  in  1840.  Harrison  received 
1,274,783  ;  Van  Buren,  1,128,702  popular  votes,  and  234  and  60 
electoral.  Twenty-six  states  voted.  Harrison  dying  one  month 
after  inauguration,  John  Tyler,  the  Vice-President,  succeeded  to 
the  office. 

The  fifteenth  election  was  in  1844.  Polk  and  Dallas  re- 
ceived 1,335.834  popular,  and  170  electoral  votes;  Clay  and 
Frelinghuysen,  1,297,033  and  105.  Texas  was  admitted  this 
time.  She  had  been  a  part  of  Mexico,  and  a  war  with  that 
country  followed  as  a  result. 

The  sixteenth  election  was  in  1848.  Thirty  states  voted  this 
time,  Texas,  Florida,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  coming  in.  Taylor 
and  Fillmore  received  1,362,024  popular  and  163  electoral  votes  ; 
Cass  and  Butler,  1,222,419  and  127;  Van  Buren  and  Adams, 
291,678  popular,  and  not  one  electoral  vote.  General  Taylor 
died  July  9,  1850,  and  Fillmore  succeeded  to  the  office. 

The  seventeenth  election  was  in  1852.  Franklin  Pierce  and 
King  received  1,590,490  popular  votes,  and  254  electoral  ;  Gen- 
eral Winfield  Scott  and  William  A.  Graham,  1  378,589  and  42. 
Thirty-one  states  voted  this  time,  California  coming  in.  The 
Whigs  never  again  nominated  candidates. 

The  eighteenth  election  was  in  1856.  James  Buchanan  and 
John  C.  Breckinridge  received  1,803,029  popular  and  174  elect- 
oral votes;  Fremont  and  Dayton,  Republicans,  1,342,164  and 
114.  A  native  American  party  put  up  Fillmore  and  Donnelsen. 
They  received  874,625  and  8. 

3S 


CJ94  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

The  nineteenth  election  was  in  i860.  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Hannibal  Hamlin,  Republicans,  received  1,866,152  popular 
votes,  and  180  electoral;  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  H.  V.  John- 
son, Northern  Democrats,  1,375,157  and  12;  Breckinridge  and 
Lane,  Southern  Democrats,  847,953  and  72  ;  and  John  Bell  and 
Edward  Everett,  the  choice  of  men  who  opposed  the  contest  on 
the  slavery  question  altogether,  590,631  and  39.  The  Repub- 
licans had  an  advantage  of  57  electoral  votes  over  all  the  others, 
but  the  Democrats  had  a  popular  majority  of  947,289.  Thirty- 
three  states  voted,  Minnesota  and  Oregon  coming  in.  Total 
number  of  votes  cast,  4,680,193 — 500,000  more  than  ever  before. 
The  population  of  the  country  was  set  down  at  31,148,048. 
Secession  followed,  and  the  civil  war  began. 

The  twentieth  election  was  in  1864.  It  occurred  only  in  the 
loyal  states,  eleven  having  seceded.  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Andrew  Johnson,  Republicans,  received  2,216,127  popular  votes, 
and  212  electoral;  George  B.  McClellan  and  George  H.  Pen- 
dleton, 1,808,725  and  21.  Kansas  and  West  Virginia  coming  in, 
twenty-four  states  voted.  Andrew  Johnson  succeeded  Mr. 
Lincoln,  who  was  assassinated  April  14,  1865. 

The  twenty-first  election  was  in  1868.  General  Ulysses  S. 
Grant  and  Schuyler  Colfax,  Republicans,  received  a  popular 
majority  of  309,588  over  Horatio  Seymour  and  Francis  P.  Blair, 
Democrats. 

The  twenty-second  election  was  in  1872.  Thirty-seven 
states  voted,  thirty  giving  Grant  and  Henry  Wilson  a  popular 
majority  of  730,812.  Two  Democratic  tickets  were  in  the  field 
— Horace  Greeley  and  B.  Gratz  Brown,  and  Charles  O'Connor 
and  John  Quincy  Adams.     Grant  received  286  electoral  votes. 

The  twenty-third  election  occurred  in  1876.  In  the  field 
were  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  Republican;  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
Democrat  ;  Peter  Cooper,  Greenbacker,  and  G.  C.  Smith,  Pro- 
hibitionist. Mr.  Hayes  received  4,033,950  popular  and  185  elec- 
toral votes.  Mr.  Tilden  received  4,284,885  popular  and  184 
electoral  votes.  Mr.  Cooper  received  81,740  popular  votes. 
Mr.  Smith  received  9,522  popular  votes.  There  were  scattering 
votes  to  the  number  of  3,636. 

The  twenty-fourth  election  occurred  in  1880.  There  were 
only  two  candidates  in  the  field — James  A,  Garfield,  Republican, 
and  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  Democrat.  The  former  received 
4,437,345  popular,  and  214  electoral  votes;  the  latter,  4,435,015 
popular  and  155  electoral  votes. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS. 


595 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  VOTE. 


The  following  table    shows  the.  popular  and  electoral   vote 
for  the  Presidency  from  the  year  1824  until  the  year  1884. 


1824 

1828 
1832 

1836 

1840 
1844 
1848 
1852 
1856 
1860 

1864 
1868 

IS  72 

1876 

1880 

1884 


CANDIDATES. 


Andrew  Jackson  .... 
John  Q.  Adams  .... 
W.  II.   Crawford  ... 

Henry  Clay 

Andrew  Jackson  .  . .  .' 
John  Q.  Adams  .... 
Andrew  Jackson  .... 

Henry  Clay 

Tohn   Floyd  

William   Wirt 

Martin   Van  Buren  . . 

W.  II.  Harrison 

HughL.  White 

Daniel  Webster 

W.  P.  Mangam  .... 
Martin  Van  Buren  . . 
W.  II.  Harrison  .... 

J«  G.   Birney 

James  K.   Polk 

Henry  Clay 

James    G.  Birney  . . . 

Zachary  Taylor 

Lewis  Cass 

Martin  Van   Buren  .  . 

Franklin  Pierce 

Winlield    Scott 

John  P.  Hale 

James  Buchanan  .  . . 
John  C.  Fremont  . . . 

"Millard  Fillmore 

Abraham  Lincoln  .  . . 

S.  A.  I  >ouglas 

I.C.  Breckenridge  . . 

John  Bell 

Abraham  Lincoln  . . 
George  B.  McClellan 

U.  S.  Grant 

Horatio  Seymour  .  .  . 

U.  S.  Grant    

Horace  Greeley  ... 
Charles  O'Connor  .  . . 

james   Black 

R.  B.  Hayes 

Samuel  J.  Tilden  .  .  . 

Peter  Cooper 

G.  S.  Smith 

Scattering  .... 
James  A.    Garfield  .  . 
Winfield  S.  Hancock 
James  15.  Weaver    . . 

Neal  Dow       

J.  W.  Phelps 

Grover  Cleveland  .  .  . 
James  G.  Blaine  .... 

John  P.  St  John 

Benjamin  F.  Butler 


Democrat   

Federal 

Republican 

Republican 

I  )emocrat 

Federal    

Democrat 

Nat.    Republican., 

Whig   

Whig 

Democrat , 

Whig 


Democrat. .  . 

Whig 

Liberal 
Democrat.  . . 

Whig 

Liberal 

Whig 

Democrat  . . 
Free  Soil. . . . 
Democrat. . . 

whig 

Free  Soil 
Democrat.  . . 
Republican. 
American.  .  . 
Republican 
I  (emocrat.  . . 
Democrat.  . . 

Union    

Republican. 
1  >emocrat.  .  . 
Republican. 
I  >emocrat.  .  . 
Republican.  . 

Liberal 

Democrat  . . 
Temperance 
Republican. . 
Democrat  . . 
Greenback  .  . 
Prohibition. . 


Republican 

Democrat   

Greenback 

Prohibition      ...... 

Anti  Secret  Society. 

1  >emocrat 

Republican 

Prohibition 

Peoples  Party 


POPULAR 
VOTE. 


152,872 

105,321 
44,282 
46,587 
647,231 
509,097 
687,502 
530,189 


761,549 


736,656 

1,128,702 

1,275,017 

7,059 

1,337,243 

1,299,068 

62,300 

1,360,101 

1,220,544 

291  263 

1,601,474 

1,386,578 

156,149 

1,838,169 

1,341,262 

874,534 

1,866,352 

1,375,157 

845,763 

589,581 

2,216,067 

1,808,725 

3,015;  071 

2,709,613 

3,597,070 

2,834,079 

29,408 

5,608 

4,033,950 

4,284,885 

81,740 

9,522 

2,636 

4,442,950 

4,442,o:;.-) 

306,867 

10,305 

707 

4,913,248 

4,848,150 

151,062 

133,728 


ELECT. 
VOTE. 


99 
84 
41 
37 

178 
83 

219 

49 

11 

7 

170 
73 
26 
14 
11 
48 

234 


170 
105 


163 
127 


254 
42 


174 

114 

8 

180 


12 

212 

21 

214 
80 


185 
184 


214 
155 


229 
172 


Total  vote  1884,  10,048,639;    Cleveland's  plurality  65,098. 


59^ 


POLITICS    AND  POLITICIANS, 


AGE    OF    PRESIDENTS    WHEN    INAUGURATED. 

The  various  Presidents  were  inaugurated  at  the  following 
aeres  : 


Washington. 

Adams,  J  .  .  . 
Jefferson.  .  .  . 

Madison  

Monroe    • .    • 
Adams,  J.  Q. 

Jackson  

Van  Buren   . 
Harrison.  . . . 

Tyler 

Polk 


Yrs. 

Mob. 

Days. 

57 

2 

10 

(il 

4 

15 

57 

11 

2 

57 

11 

18 

58 

10 

6 

57 

8 

23 

Gl 

11 

19 

54 

5 

29 

68 

25 

51 

7 

49 

4 

2 

Taylor.  . . 
Fillmore  .  . 
Pierce  .  . . 
Buchanan 
Lincoln.  .  . 
Johnson. . 
Grant.  .  .  . 
Hayes 
Garfield. . . 
Arthur.  .  . 
Cleveland. 


Yrs. 

Mob. 

64 

3 

50 

6 

49 

3 

65 

8 

52 

1 

56 

3 

46 

10 

54 

5 

49 

3 

51 

6 

47 

11 

VICE-PRESIDENTS,  DATE  OF  QUALIFICATION. 


1849 
1850 

1853 
1853 
1854 


Tohn  Adams June    3,  1789 

John  Adams Dec.     2,  1793 

Thomas  Jefferson     March  4,  1797 

Aaron  Burr March  4,  1801 

George  Clinton March  4,  1805 

George  Clinton  1 March  4,  1809 

William  II   Crawford  2 April  10,  1812 

Elbridge  Gerry  1   March 4,  1813 

John  Gaillard2 Nov.  25,  1814 

Daniel  1).  Tompkins March  4,  1817 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins   March  5,  1821 

Tohn  C.  Calhoun March  4.  1825 

TohnC.  Calhoun  3 March  4,  1829 

Hugh  L.  White  2  Dec.  28,  1832 

Martin  Van  Buren March  4,  1833 

Richard  M.  Johnson March  4,  1837 

Tohn  Tyler March  4,  1841 

Samuel  L.  Southard  2 April  6,  1841 

Willis  P.  Mangam  2 May  31,  1842 

Terms  marked  a  denote  the  succession  of  the  Vice-President  to  the  Presidency  for  the  residue  of  the 
term.  1.  Dieil  in  office.  2.  Acting  Vice-President  and  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate.  3.  Resigned  the 
Vice-Presidency,  December  28,  1832. 

In  the  Democratic  National  Conventions  802  delegates  are 
entitled  to  seats — twice  the  number  of  electors  given  in  the  fol- 
lowing table  : 


George  M.  Dallas March  4,  1845 

Millard  Fillmore March  5, 

William  R.  King  2 July    11, 

William  R.    King  1    March  4, 

David  R.  Atchison  2 April  18, 

Jesse  D.  Bright  2 Dec.    .5, 

John  C.  Breckinridge March  4,  1857 

Hannibal  Hamlin March  4,  1861 

Andrew  Johnson   March  4,  1865 

Lafayette  S,   Foster  2 April  15,  18*5 

Benjamin  F.  Wade  2 March  2,  1867 

Schuyler  Colfax March  4,  1869 

Henry  Wilson  1 March  4,  1873 

Thomas  W.    Ferry  2 Nov.   22,  1875 

William  A.  Wheeler  March  5,  1877 

Chester  A.   Arthur  a March  4,  1881 

David  Davis  2   Oct.   13,  1881 

George  F.  Edmunds  2 March  3,  1883 


Electoral 
States.  Vote. 

Alabama 10 

Arkansas 7 

California 8 

Colorado 3 

Connecticut 6 

Delaware 3 

Florida 4 

Georgia 12 

Illinois 22 

Indiana 15 

Iowa    13 

Kansas 9 

Kentucky 13 

Total , 


Electoral 
States.  Vote. 

Louisiana 8 

Maine 6 

Maryland 8 

Massachusetts 14 

M  ichigan   13 

Minnesota    7 

Mississippi 9 

Missouri 16 

Nebraska 5 

Nevada 3 

New   Hampshire 4 

New  Jersey 9 

New  "York .36 


Electoral 
States.  Vote. 

North  Carolina 11 

Ohio 23 

Oregon 3 

Pennsylvania 30 

Rhode  Island 4 

South  Carolina  9 

Tennessee 21 

Texas     13 

Vermont 4 

Virginia 12 

West  Virginia 6 

Wisconsin 11 


.401 


Necessary  to  a  choice,  201. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  597 

The  Republicans  in  1884  had  820  delegates,  as  they  took  in 
the  eight  territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  represented 
by  two  votes  each.  In  the  Democratic  Convention  535  votes 
were  necessary  to  nominate,  the  two-thirds  rule  being  operative. 

LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

Letters  of  acceptance  of  the  nomination  for  the  offices  of 
President  and  Vice-President,  which  set  forth  the  views  and 
purposes  of  the  candidates,  have  come  to  be  regarded  as  an 
important  part  of  the  machinery  of  getting,  the  candidates  favor- 
ably before  the  people.  The  earlier  candidates  either  thought 
little  of  the  efficacy  of  this  system,  or  else  did  not  see  fit  to 
adopt  a  custom  that  has  now  become  general.  Prior  to  1832, 
when  the  first  National  convention  was  held,  candidates  were 
nominated  by  Congressional  caucuses  or  a  general  public  sen- 
timent, born  of  the  action  of  State  Legislatures.  In  1828 
General  Jackson  was  first  put  up  by  the  Legislature  of  Tennes- 
see, and  that  action  was  supplemented  by  a  State  convention  of 
Pennsylvania,  held  at  Harrisburg.  There  was  no  central  author- 
ity. The  candidate  was  made  so  by  general  acclaim,  and  the 
only  formal  ceremony  was  usually  a  ratification  meeting,  held  at 
some  populous  point,  at  which  the  candidate  appeared  and  made  a 
speech.  This  was  the  case  in  1832,  when  the  first  National  con- 
vention was  held  at  Baltimore  in  May.  This  was  proclaimed  at 
the  time  as  the  downfall  of  "  King  Caucus,''  and  from  that  time 
Presidential  candidates  have  been  the  product  of  national  con- 
ventions. The  only  controversy  at  that  time  was  over  the  Vice- 
President,  there  being  great  opposition  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  who 
seemed  to  be  entitled  to  the  office  by  right  of  succession.  That 
resulted  in  the  nomination  of  Martin  Van  Buren.  Mr.  Van 
Buren  received  the  news  at  a  hotel,  and  acknowledged  the  honor 
from  the  balcony.  Jackson,  being  then  President,  was  not  even 
formally  notified.  He  was  supposed  to  read  the  news  in  the 
newspapers,  and  as  he  did  not  decline  the  candidacy,  the  latter 
went  "without  saying."  Formal  letters  of  acceptance  were  rather 
the  outcome  of  political  platforms,  and  these  did  not  come  into 
existence  as  such  until  1840.  Then  the  convention  which  nomi- 
nated Van  Buren  had  a  series  of  "resolves''  as  long  as  the 
moral  law.  Prior  to  that  party  principles  were  set  forth  in  what 
was  known  as  an  "Address  to  the  People."  This  was  the  work 
of  a  committee  as  now,  but  was  put  forth  in  much  more  diffuse 
shape  than  mere  resolutions,  and  was  signed  by  the  chairman  of 
the  convention.  Mr.  Van  Buren  signified  his  acceptance  in  a 
public  speech.     There  was  no  written  acceptance  of  a  nomina- 


59§  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

tion  for  President  until  1848,  and  that  was  decidedly  informal 
Somebody  got  up  in  the  Whig  convention,  and  asked  how  they 
knew  that  General  Taylor  would  accept  the  nomination  if  ten- 
dered him.  Lewis  D.  Campbell  of  Ohio,  produced  a  letter  from 
the  General  addressed  to  Captain  Allison,  expressing  a  willing- 
ness to  make  the  run.  That  settled  it,  but  even  then  there  was 
a  hitch,  for  nobody  knew  how  General  Taylor  stood  on  the 
question  of  slavery  extension,  which  had  just  come  into  promi- 
nence and  was  made  a  great  Whig  issue.  Nobody  could  explain 
how  the  General  stood,  so  to  make  matters  easy  all  around  the 
convention  adjourned  without  making  any  platform  at  all.  They 
took  old  Zachary  entirely  on  trust.  At  a  ratification  meeting 
two  weeks  later,  in  Philadelphia,  however,  a  series  of  resolves 
was  passed,  and  stood  for  the  Whig  platform  of  that  campaign. 
As  the  General  was  not  heard  from  as  repudiating  those  resolves, 
his  candidacy  existed  without  question. 

The  first  formal  letter  of  acceptance  of  which  there  is  any 
record  now  obtainable  was  that  of  General  Scott  in  1852.  Its 
singularity,  perhaps,  led  to  its  preservation.  The  Whigs  of 
that  year  had  adopted  a  kind  of  catch-all  platform.  It  promised 
everything  to  everybody,  and  seemed  to  foreshadow  the  approach 
of  the  millennium.  General  Scott  addressed  his  letter  to  the 
President  of  the  convention,  J.  G.  Chapman,  and  in  it  he  took 
up  each  resolve  and  promised  like  a  schoolboy  who  might  hope 
to  win  merit  marks  for  good  behavior,  faithfully  to  carry  it  out. 
The  subserviency  of  the  thing,  coupled  with  the  famous-speeches 
of  Scott,  which  bid  in  the  most  abject  way  for  class  and  sectarian 
and  race  votes,  effectually  squelched  the  General,  and  he  was 
beaten  ingloriously.  There  is  no  record  of  Pierce1s  letter  of 
acceptance,  but  in  1856  we  find  Buchanan's.  It  was  a  mere  for- 
mal acknowledgment  of  the  honor,  and  a  promise  to  stand  by 
the  platform  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  was  the  longest 
political  platform  ever  adopted.  It  contained  six  "  whereases," 
fourteen  "  resolves,'1  and  twenty-two  subdivisions  of  resolves. 
Fremont's  letter  was  also  short.  The  personal  pronoun  "  I  " 
occurs  in  it  sixteen  times,  and  two  distinct  references  to  the  ser- 
vices of  the  "  Pathfinder,"  etc.  Letters  of  acceptance  became 
general  in  i860.  Then  all  candidates  wrote  them,  and  in  that 
year,  too,  appears  the  first  record  of  a  formal  committee  to  wait 
upon  the  candidates.  Abraham  Lincoln's  was  very  brief.  He 
simply  said  : 

"  I  accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the  convention 
over  which  you  presided.     The  declaration  of  principles  and  sen- 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS. 


599 


timents  which  accompanies  your  letter  meets  my  approval,  and 
it  shall  be  my  care  not  to  violate  or  disregard  it  in  any  part ; 
imploring  the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence,  and  with  due 
regard  to  the  views  and  feelings  of  all  who  were  represented  in 
the  convention  ;  to  the  rights  of  all  the  states  and  territories  and 
people  of  the  nation  ;  to  the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  perpetual  union,  harmony  and  prosperity  of  all,  I  am  most 
happy  to  co-operate  for  the  practical  success  of  the  principles 
declared  by  the  convention. 

"Your  obliged  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

"Abraham  Lincoln." 

That  was  all.  It  was  simple,  straightforward,  and  evidently 
written  with  a  keen  sense  of  the  responsibility  he  was  about  to 
assume.  His  humble  trust  in  Providence  is  but  another  evidence 
of  the  deep  religious  feeling  that  always  actuated  Mr.  Lincoln's 
great  and  lofty  impulses.  Mr.  Hamlin  had  less  humility.  He 
had  a  lot  to  say,  and  said  it  at  considerable  and  unnecessary 
length.  There  was  a  redundancy  about  his  composition  that 
conveys  the  idea  that  he  meant  the  paper  to  be  the  greatest  pro- 
duction of  his  life,  one  that  would  live  in  history.  Mr.  Breckin- 
ridge's letter  was  also  quite  long,  and  it  expressed  sentiments 
which,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  seemed  to  have  placed 
the  writer  in  a  ridiculous  position.  "Above  all,"  h«  said  at  the 
close,  "  I  venture  humbly  to  hope  that  Divine  Providence,  to 
whom  we  owe  our  origin,  our  growth,  and  all  our  prosperity,  will 
continue  to  protect  our  beloved  country  against  all  danger,  for- 
eign and  domestic."  When  the  loyal  shot  from  a  United  States 
gunboat  at  Port  Hudson  took  off  his  arm,  perhaps  Mr.  Breckin- 
ridge again  invoked  Divine  help,  and  probably  then  with  more 
sincerity. 

Douglas'  letter  was  just  what  might  have  been  expected  of 
him.  It  was  a  clean-cut  reannunciation  of  the  views  which  every- 
body knew  he  held.  He  ignored  the  platform  of  his  party,  and 
struck  out  for  himself.  He  stated  his  own  views.  He  did  not 
repeat  or  synopsize  the  resolutions.  He  came  out  as  Douglas, 
and  wrote  an  original  letter.  Space  forbids  copying  it  in  full, 
but  it  was  a  masterly  enunciation  of  his  own  principles.  It  was 
a  letter  of  Douglas,  contained  Douglas'  own  views,  and  was  ad- 
dressed to  a  committee  of  Douglas'  friends. 

All  the  candidates  then  wrote  letters.  Bell's  was  short  and 
purposeless.  Jo  Lane,  of  Oregon,  on  the  ticket  with  Breckin- 
ridge, wrote  in  the  somewhat  grandiloquent  strain  of  the  times. 
Indeed,  it  was  noticeable  at  that  period  that  all  the  candidates 


600  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

for  the  unimportant  office  of  Vice-President  wrote  longer,  more 
imposing  and  high-sounding  letters  than  did  the  principal  candi- 
dates. Lane's  was  very  long.  So  was  Hershel  Johnson's,  though 
he  was  a  make-shift  candidate  with  Douglas,  in  place  of  Fitzpat- 
rick,  who,  in  a  bitter  letter,  had  declined.  But  the  longest,  most 
imposing  and  oratorical  effusion  was  that  of  Edward  Everett, 
on  the  ticket  with  Bell.  Mr.  Everett  felt  called  upon  to  narrate 
the  history  of  the  times,  and  expound  his  own  views  as  he  had 
held  them  for  a  third  of  a  century.  He  embraced  in  his  letter  a 
great  speech,  an  epic,  a  wonderful  dissertation.  His  rhetoric 
was  turgid  and  ponderous;  his  sentences  labored,  diffuse.  Its 
author  got  less  votes  than  any  of  the  candidates.  We  are  not 
able  to  find  any  record  of  General  McClellan's  letter  of  1864, 
nor  of  Seymour's  in  1868,  though  the  latter,  it  is  remembered, 
was  lengthy,  and  reviewed  the  platform  comprehensively.  But 
in  its  references  to  the  war  and  the  reconstruction  measures  then 
pending,  it  took  such  ground  as  to  antagonize  the  war  spirit  of 
his  own  party,  and  defeat  was  understood  as  inevitable  from  the 
start.  General  Grant's  letter  in  1868  was  a  mere  note  of  ac- 
knowledgment, couched  in  the  language  of  the  camp.  It  read 
like:  "General  Order  No. — ,  in  the  Field."  In  1872,  as  in 
1808,  Grant's  letter  was  a  mere  formal  acknowledgment.  Sen- 
ator Wilson,  however,  spread  himself  to  the  extent  of  about 
4,000  words,  one  feature  of  his  letter  being  a  cordial  sentiment 
in  favor  of  woman  suffrage.  Greeley's  letter  was  a  masterpiece, 
written  with  all  the  power  that  the  great  editor  could  command. 
All  that  wonderful  force  that  had  become  so  familiar  in  the 
Tribune  was  brought  into  play,  and  in  language,  arrangement 
of  themes,  directness  of  diction  and  power  of  logic,  the  "  old 
man  ''  gave  the  fullest  evidence  of  his  greatness  as  a  master  of 
English,  and  his  capacity  to  concentrate  thought.  Perhaps 
Greeley's  letter  will  rank  in  future  years  as  the  most  cogent  state 
paper  of  the  days  in  which  he  lived.  Gratz  Brown's  was  long 
but  weak.  It  contained  no  new  thoughts,  nor  was  it  much  else 
than  a  paraphrase  of  the  platform.  Four  years  later  Mr.  Hayes' 
letter  appeared.  It  was  considered  weak  in  expression,  but 
abounding  in  promise,  especially  toward  the  South.  It  contained 
much  of  promise  in  this  direction,  which  was  afterward  fulfilled 
in  the  driving  out  of  the  carpet-bag  Governors  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Louisiana.  Mr.  Wheeler's  letter  was  but  little  more 
than  the  perfunctory  utterances  of  a  candidate  who  had  expected 
nothing,  and  was  not  surprised  at  what  he  got. 

Mr.  Tilden's  letter  in  1876  was  the  state  paper  of   the  day. 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  6oi 

It  did  more  than  any  platform  of  his  party  or  vote  of  the  con- 
vention which  nominated  him  to  bring  him  close  to  the  patriotic 
sentiment  of  the  people.  It  won  him  votes  everywhere.  It 
stamped  him  as  the  purest  and  greatest  man  in  his  party.  It 
revived  patriotic  memories,  and  reminded  people  of  the  days 
when  statesmen  were  such  by  their  own  abilities  and  characters, 
and  the  purity  and  unselfishness  of  their  lives.  That  letter 
elected  Mr.  Tilden,  or  rather  secured  him  the  votes  to  do  it,  had 
they  been  counted  and  returned.  The  Garfield  letter  of  1880 
also  ranks  as  a  great  paper,  and  it  undoubtedly  was.  Had  Mr. 
Garfield  lived  to  put  in  force  the  principles  he  there  so  ably  gave 
voice  to,  his  administration  might  have  been  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  perfect  in  American  history.  Grover  Cleveland's  letter 
was  considered  to  be  a  model  of  brevity  and  of  considerable  di- 
rectness, considering  the  current  circumlocution  regarding  the 
tariff,  and  in  the  main  it  was  satisfactory  to  his  party.  Thomas 
A.  Hendricks'  letter  was  also  brief  and  to  the  point.  The  letters 
of  James  G.  Blaine  have  always  been  considered  able  and  states- 
manlike documents,  in  which  the  craft,  born  of  long  experience 
in  public  life,  is  brought  to  play  in  the  interest  of  his  party. 
John  A.  Logan^  letter  was  a  sturdy  and  independent  produc- 
tion full  of  ideas,  and  calculated  to  add  strength  to  the  general 
canvass. 

The  official  canvass  of  the  votes  cast  at  the  Presidential 
election  in  November,  1880,  made  the  total  vote  of  Cook  county 
100,278. 

Hancock,  total  in  city,  38,302  ;  total  in  county,  5,991  ;  grand 
total,  44,293. 

Garfield,  total  in  city,  42,966 ;  majority,  4,665  ;  total  in 
county,  11,911  ;  grand  total,  54,817. 

Weaver,  in  city,  1,045;  m  county,  114;  total  1,159.  Gar- 
field's plurality,  10,524;  majority,  9,365. 

Governor:  S.  M.  Cullom,  Rep.,  in  city,  42,134;  majority, 
3,495;  in  county,  11,805;  grand  total,  53,899;    majority,  9,220. 

Lyman  Trumbull,  Dem.,  in  city,  38,639  ;  in  county,  6,080  ; 
grand  total,  44,657. 

Congressional,  First  district;  Aldrich,  Rep.,  19,950;  Mat- 
tocks, Dem.,  16,825  ;  Powers,  Greenback,  514;  Altpeter,  Social- 
ist, 605  ;  Aldrich's  majority,  2,006. 

Second  district ;  Davis,  Rep.,  20,602  ;  Farnsworth,  Dem., 
16,014  ;  Bishop,  Socialist  and  Greenback,  29  ;  Dixon,  Green- 
back, 461  ;   Lorenz,  Socialist,  514  ;   Davis'  majority,  3,584. 

Third  district;    Farwell,   Rep.,    13,817;   Smith,    Dem.,  10,- 


602  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

351  ;  Adams,  Greenback,  106  ;  Neebe,  Socialist  and  Greenback, 
141  ;  Waldman,  Socialist,  114;  Farwell  overall,  3,105. 

Sheriff:  O.  L.  Mann,  Rep.,  in  city,  41,119;  in  county,  11,- 
676;  grand  total,  52,779. 

Christian  Casselman,  Dem.,  in  city,  39,567  ;  in  county,  6,- 
201  ;  grand  total,  45,478. 

Cain,  Greenback,  1,035;  O'Meara,  Socialist,  1,218;  Mann's 
majority  in  city,  1.562  ;  majority  over  all,  5,048. 

Coroner:  C.  R.  Matson,  Rep.,  55,491  ;  Colvin,  Dem.,  43,- 
584;  Walker,  Greenback,  928;  Julson,  Socialist,  1,218;  Mat- 
son's  majority  over  all,  8,761. 

State  vote:'  Garfield,  318,205  ;  Hancock,  277,454  ;  Weaver, 
25,821  ;  Garfield  over  Hancock,  40,751. 

Governor:  Cullom,  312,565;  Trumbull,  276,389;  Streeter, 
26,589. 

Vote  of  November,  1880,  on  the  amendment  to  the  Illinois 
Constitution,  submitted  by  the  Legislature,  extending  the  terms 
of  County  Treasurers  and  Sheriffs  to  four  years,  and  rendering 
them  ineligible  to  re-election — Vote  in  Cook  county  for,  24,055  ; 
against,  9,678.      Total  in  state  for,  320,439  ;  against,  103,953. 

REVISED   STATUTES. 

RELATING  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CHICAGO.     ADOPTED 

BY  THE  CITY  OF  CHICAGO  APRIL  27,,   1875. 

ARTICLE  I. 

Section  io.  Cities  organized  under  this  act  shall  be  bodies 
politic  and  corporate,  under  the  name  and  style  of  "  city  of 
(name),"  and  under  such  name  may  sue  and  be  sued,  contract 
and  be  contracted  with,  acquire  and  hold  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty for  corporate  purposes,  have  a  common  seal,  and  change 
the  same  at  pleasure,  and  exercise  all  the  powers  hereinafter 
conferred. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Section  i.  The  chief  executive  officer  of  a  city  shall  be  a 
Mayor,  who  shall  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  a  qualified 
elector,  reside  within  the  city  limits,  and  hold  his  office  for  two 
years,  and  until  his  successor  is  elected  and  qualified. 

Sec.  2.  Whenever  a  vacancy  shall  happen  in  the  office  of 
the  Mayor,  when  the  unexpired  term  shall  be  one  year  or  over 
from  the  date  when  the  vacancy  occurs,  it  shall  be  filled  by  an 
election. 

Sec.  4.      During  a  temporary  absence   or  disability  of  the 


CHICAGO,    COOK    COUNTY,    AND    ILLINOIS.  603 

Mayor,  the  City  Council  shall  elect  one  of  its  number  to  act  as 
Mayor  pro  tern.,  who,  during  such  absence  or  disability,  shall 
possess  the  powers  of  mayor. 

Sec  5.  If  the  Mayor,  at  any  time  during  the  term  of  his 
office,  shall  remove  from  the  limits  of  the  city,  his  office  shall 
thereby  become  vacant. 

Sec  6.  The  Mayor  shall  preside  at  all  meetings  of  the  City 
Council,  but  shall  not  vote  except  in  case  of  a  tie,  when  he  shall 
give  the  casting  vote. 

Sec  8.  'He  may  exercise,  within  the  city  limits,  the  powers 
conferred  upon  sheriffs,  to  suppress  disorder,  and  keep  the  peace. 

Sec  12.  The  Mayor  shall,  annually,  and  from  time  to  time, 
give  the  Council  information  relative  to  the  affairs  of  the  city, 
and  shall  recommend  for  their  consideration  such  measures  as  he 
may  deem  expedient. 

ARTICLE  III. 

Section  i.  The  City  Council  shall  consist  of  the  Mayor 
and  Aldermen. 

Sec  2.  The  number  of  Aldermen,  when  not  elected  by  the 
minority  representation  plan,  shall  be  elected  as  follows:  In 
cities  not  exceeding  three  thousand  inhabitants,  six  Aldermen  ; 
exceeding  three  thousand  but  not  exceeding  five  thousand,  eight 
Aldermen ;  exceeding  five  thousand  and  not  exceeding  ten 
thousand,  ten  Aldermen  ;  exceeding  ten  thousand  and  not  ex- 
ceeding thirty  thousand,  fourteen  Aldermen  ;  and  two  additional 
Aldermen  for  every  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  over  thirty 
thousand  ;  provided,  however,  that  in  cities  of  over  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  there  shall  be  elected  thirty-six  Aldermen, 
and  no  more. 

Sec  3.  Aldermen  shall  hold  their  office  for  the  term  of 
two  years,  and  until  their  successors  are  elected  and  qualified. 

Sec  4.  If  any  vacancy  shall  occur  in  the  office  of  Alder- 
man by  death,  resignation,  removal  or  otherwise,  such  vacancy 
shall  be  filled  by  election. 

Sec  6.  The  City  Council  shall  be  judge  of  the  election  and 
qualification  of  its  own  members. 

Sec  8.  A  majority  of  the  Aldermen  elect  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  to  do  business,  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from 
time  to  time,  and  may  compel  the  attendance  of  absentees,  under 
such  penalties  as  may  be  prescribed  by  ordinance. 

Sec.  1 7.  The  Mayor  or  any  three  Aldermen  may  call  special 
meetings  of  the  City  Council. 


604  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS. 

ARTICLE    IV. 
ELECTIONS. 

Section  i.  A  general  election  for  city  officials  shall  beheld 
on  the  third  Tuesday  of  April,  of  each  year:  Provided,  that  in 
cities  which  include  wholly  within  their  corporate  limits  a  town, 
or  towns,  such  elections  shall  be  held  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
April. 

Sec.  2.  At  the  general  election  held  in  1877,  an^  biennially 
thereafter,  a  Mayor,  a  City  Clerk,  a  City  Attorney,  and  a  City 
Treasurer  shall  be  elected  in  each  city  :  Provided,  that  no  person 
shall  be  elected  to  the  office  of  City  Treasurer  for  two  terms  in 
succession. 

Sec.  3.  All  persons  entitled  to  vote  at  any  general  election 
for  State  officers  within  any  city  or  village,  having  resided  therein 
thirty  days  next  preceding  thereto,  may  vote  at  any  election  for 
city  or  village  officers. 

Sec.  4.  The  City  Council  may,  from  time  to  time,  divide 
the  city  into  one-half  as  many  wards  as  the  total  number  of  Alder- 
men to  which  the  city  is  entitled,  and  one  Alderman  shall,  annu- 
ally, be  elected  in  and  for  each  ward,  to  hold  his  office  for  two 
years,  and  until  his  successor  is  elected  and  qualified.  In  the 
formation  of  wards,  the  population  of  each  shall  be  as  nearly 
equal,  and  the  ward  shall  be  of  as  compact  and  contiguous  terri- 
tory as  practicable. 

CONSTITUTIONAL    PROVISIONS    IN    RELATION    TO    CITY    GOVERNMENTS 

QUALIFICATIONS  FOR    OFFICIALS. 

ARTICLE    IV. 

Section  4.  No  person  who  has  been  or  hereafter  shall  be 
convicted  of  bribery,  perjury,  or  other  infamous  crime,  nor  any 
person  who  has  been  or  may  be  collector  or  holder  of  public 
moneys,  who  shall  not  have  accounted  for,  and  paid  over,  accord- 
ing to  law,  all  such  moneys  due  from  him,  shall  be  eligible  to  the 
General  Assembly,  or  to  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  in  this  state. 
Sec.  22.  The  General  Assembly  shall  not  pass  local  or  special 
laws  in  any  of  the  following  enumerated  cases,  that  is  to  say  for  : 
*  *  *  *  *  incorporating  cities,  towns  or  villages,  or  chang- 
ing or  amending  the  charter  of  any  town,  city  or  village  *  *  * 
*  *  *  *  -X-  creating,  increasing  or  decreasing  fees,  percent- 
age or  allowances  of  public  officers,  during  the  term  for  which  said 
officers  are  elected  or  appointed. 

28.  No  law  shall  be  passed  which  shall  operate  to  extend 
the  term  of  any  public  officer  after  his  election  or  appointment. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS. 


605 


ARTICLE  V. 

Section  25.  All  civil  officers,  except  members  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  such  inferior  officers  as  may  be  by  law  exempted, 
shall,  before  they  enter  on  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices, 
take  and  subscribe  the  following  oath  or  affirmation  : 

I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm,  as  the  case  may  be)  that  I 
will  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  that  I  will  faithfully  discharge 
the  duties  of  the  office  of according  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 

And  no  ofher  oath,  declaration,  or  test  shall  be  required  as  a 
qualification: 

ARTICLE  VI. 

Section  6.  No  person  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  who  is 
not  a  qualified  elector  of  the  city  or  village,  and  who  shall  not 
have  resided  therein  at  least  one  year  next  preceding  his  election 
or  appointment,  nor  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  any  office 
who  is  a  defaulter  to  the  corporation. 

No  person  shall  be  a  State  Senator  who  shall  not  have  been 
for  five  years  a  resident  of  the  state,  and  for  two  years  next  pre- 
ceding election  a  resident  of  the  elective  district.  The  same 
provision  applies  to  State  Representatives. 

ARTICLE    IX. 

Section  9.  The  General  Assembly  may  vest  the  corporate 
authorities  of  cities,  towns  and  villages  with  power  to  make  local 
improvements  by  special  assessments,  or  by  special  taxation  of 
contiguous  property,  or  otherwise.  For  all  other  corporate  pur- 
poses, all  municipal  corporations  may  be  vested  with  authority 
to  assess  and  collect  taxes,  but  such  taxes  shall  be  uniform  in 
respect  to  persons  and  property,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
body  imposing  the  same. 

Sec.  12.  No  county,  city,  township,  school  district,  or  oth- 
er municipal  corporation  shall  be  allowed  to  become  indebted  in 
any  manner,  or  for  any  purpose,  to  an  amount,  including  existing 
indebtedness,  in  the  aggregate  exceeding  five  per  centum  on  the 
value  of  the  taxable  property  therein,  to  be  ascertained  by  the 
last  assessment  for  state  and  county  taxes,  previous  to  the  incur- 
ring of  such  indebtedness.  Any  county,  city,  school  district,  or 
other  municipal  corporation  incurring  any  indebtedness  as  afore- 
said, shall  before,  or  at  the  time  of  doing  so,  provide  for  the 
collection  of  a  direct  annual  tax  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on 
such  debt  as  it  falls  due,  and  also  to  pay  and  discharge  the  prin- 
cipal sum  thereof  within  twenty  years  from  the  time  of  contract- 
ing the  same. 


606  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS. 

Following  is  a  list  of  Senators  and  Representatives  elected 
to  represent  Chicago  and  Cook  county  in  the  General  Assem- 
bly since  1857  : 

1857.  Senate,  Norman  B.  Judd  ;  House  of  Representatives, 
John  H.  Dunham,  George  W.  Morris,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  A.  F.  C. 
Mueller. 

1859.  Senate,  Norman  B.  Judd  ;  House  of  Representatives, 
Van  H.  Higgins,  Samuel  L.  Baker,  Ebenezer  Peck,  Caspar 
Butz. 

1861.  Senate,  William  B.  Ogden  ;  House  of  Representa- 
tives, J.  Young  Scammon,  William  H.  Brown,  S.  M.  Wilson, 
Homer  Wilmarth. 

1863.  Senate,  William  B.  Ogden,  Jasper  D.  Ward;  House 
of  Representatives,  Ansel   B.  Cook,  Amos   G.  Throop,-  William 

E.  Ginther,    Melville  W.   Fuller,    George  W.   Gage*,   Michael 
Brandt,  Francis  A.  Eastman,  Lorenz  Brentano. 

1865.  Senate,  Francis  A.  Eastman,  Jasper  D.  Ward; 
House  of  Representatives,  N.  W.  Huntley,  Ansel  B.  Cook,  Ed- 
ward S.  Isham,  A.  F.  Stevenson. 

1867.  Senate,  Francis  A.  Eastman,  Jasper  D.  Ward; 
House  of  Representatives,  Lester  L.  Bond,  Joseph  S.  Reynolds, 
H.  M.  Singer,  M.  W.  Leavitt,  H.  M.  Shepherd,  A.  F.  Ste- 
venson. 

1869. — Senate,  John  C.  Dore,  J.  D.  Ward  ;  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, H.  B.  Miller,  L.  L.  Bond,  J.  S.  Reynolds,  F.  Mun- 
son,  J.  C.  Knickerbocker,  Iver  Lawson. 

1 87 1. — Senate,  John  C.  Dore,  John  N.  Jewett,  Willard 
Woodard,  John  L.  Beveridge,  Artemus  Carter.f  House 
of  Representatives,  Henry  W.  Austin,  Robert  H.  Foss, 
James  L.  Campbell,  Carlisle  Mason,  Wiley  M.  Egan,  R. 
P.  Derrickson,  John  D.  Easter,  John  Humphrey,  A.  L.  Morrison, 
John  W.  Heafield,  A.  J.  Galloway,  H.  B.  Brayton,  Simon  D. 
Phelps,  James  P.  Root,  William  H.  King,  Arthur  Dixon,  Horace 

F.  Waite,  R.  S.  Williamson,  A.   H.  Burley,  William  Vocke,  W. 
K.  Sullivan,  Henry  C.   Senne. 

1873. — Senate,  Joseph  S.  Reynolds,  R.  S.  Thompson,  Miles 
Kehoe,  Samuel  K.  Dow,  J.  McGrath,  Horace  F.  Waite,  R.  S. 
Williamson.  House  of  Representatives,  James  B.  Bradwell, 
John  A.  Lomax,  William  Wayman,  S.  P.  Hopkins,  Frank  T. 
Sherman,  Charles    G.  Wicker,    E.   F.    Cullerton,     Constantine 


*George  W.  Gage   served  one-half  the   term,  when  he  gave  up  his   seat  to  Michael 
Brandt,  who  contested  the  election. 

f  Vice  John  L.  Beveridge,  resigned. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  607 

Kann,  Thomas  M.  Halpine,  John  F.  Scanlan,  Thomas  E.  Ferrier, 
William  H.  Condon,  William  A.  Haerting,  Ingwell  Oleson,  Hugh 
McLaughlin,  Otto  Peltzer,  John  M.  Rountree,  George  E.  Wash- 
burn, Daniel  Booth,  C.  H.  Dolton,  H.  C.  Senne. 

.1875. — Senate,  John  C.  Haines,  R  S.  Thompson,  Miles  Ke- 
hoe,  Samuel  K.  Dow,  John  Buehler,  H.  F.  Waite,  M.  F.  Robin- 
son. House  of  Representatives,  J.  B.  Bradwell,  Lincoln  Dubois, 
M.  J.  Wentworth,  John  Hise,  George  M.  Bogue,  S.  P.  Hopkins, 
William  Honan, Conrad  L.  Niehoff.t.  M.  Halpine.Orrin  L.  Mann, 
William  H.  Condon,  M.  M.  Miller,  M.  J.  Dunne,  J.  S.  Arvedson, 
C.  L.  Linderberg,  Robert  Thiem,  JohnC.  Barker,  W.  H.  Stick- 
ney,  W.  H.  Skelly,  Jr.,  G.  Dunlap,  William  Freis. 

1877. — Senate,  John  C.  Haines,  Daniel  N.  Bash,  Miles  Ke- 
hoe,  Francis' H.  Riddle,  John  Buehler,  M.  A.  DeLany,  M.  W. 
Robinson.  House  of  Representatives,  W.  H.  Thompson,  Charles 
L.  Faston,  M.  J.  Wentworth,  S.  P.  Hopkins,  J.  W.  E.  Thomas, 
Joseph  E.  Smith,  James  B.  Taylor,  H.  F.  Sheridan,  P.  J.  Hickey, 
E.  B.  Sherman,  George  W.  Reed,  Joseph  J.  Kearney,  John  A. 
Roche,  Peter  Kiolbassa,  M.  J.  Dunne,  Eugene  A.  Sittig,  Arno 
Voss,  Austin  O.  Saxton,  J.  S.  Bielefeldt,  John  H.  Kedzie,  G.  C. 
Klehm. 

187Q. — Senate,  George  E.  White,  D.  N.  Bashk  Sylvester 
Artley,  Francis  A.  Riddle,  W.  T.  Johnson,  M.  A.  DeLany,  W.  J. 
Campbell.  House  of  Representatives,  W.  H.  Thompson,  M.  J. 
Wentworth,  D.  W.  Clark,  Benjamin  M.  Wilson,  S.  P.  Hopkins, 
P.  T.  Barry,  Leo  Meilbeck,  T.  J.  Walsh,  John  B.  Taylor,  L.  H. 
Bisbee,  E.  B.  Sherman,  J.  E.  Murray,  William  E.  Mason,  Charles 
Ehrhardt,  Thomas  F.  O'Malley,  Christian  Meyer,  Austin  O. 
Sexton,  H.  M.  Thomas,  L.  C.  Collins,  G.  G.  Struckman. 

1881. — Senate,  George  E.  White,  L.  D.  Condee,  Sylvester 
Artley,  Chris  Mamer,  F.  C.  DeLang,  George  E.  Adams,  W.  J. 
Campbell.  House  of  Representatives,  David  Sullivan,  Addis  L. 
Rockwell,  M.  R.  Harris,  John  R.  Cook,  Randall  H.  White,  Orrin 
S.  Cook,  Thomas  Cloonan,  George  W.  Kroll,  Joseph  R.  Gor 
man,  P.  J.  McMahon,  John  L.  Parish,  R.  N.  Pierson,  William  A 
Phelps,  Thomas  H.  McKone,  S.  D.  Mieroslawski,  Austin  O.  Sex 
ton.  H.  M.  Thomas,  Nathan  Plotke,  L.  C.  Collins,  Jr.,  B.  F 
Weber. 

1883-4. — Senate,    George   E.   White,   L.    D.  Condee,   J.   H 
Clough,  Chris  Mamer,  W.  H.  Ruger,   George    E.  Adams,  W.   J 
Campbell,  W.  E.  Mason,  Thomas  Cloonan,  M.  B.  Herely.      House 
of  Representatives,  J.  Fairbanks,  R.  R.  Kennedv,  David  Sullivan 
W.  H.  Harper,  Hilon  A.  Parker,  E.J.  Fellows,  J.  W.  E.  Thomas 


6o8  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

Thomas  McNally,  Isaac  Abrahams,  John  L.  Parish,  J.  F.  Law- 
rence, R.  F.  Sheridan,  David  W.  Walsh,  James  A.  Taylor,  Er- 
win  E.  Wood,  E.  D.  Cooke,  Theodore  Stimming,  Austin  O. 
Sexton,  L.  C.  Collins,  Jr.,  Clayton  E.  Crafts,  Julius  Pedersen, 
A.  Wendell,  Mark  J.  Clinton,  Jesse  J.  Rook,  John  O'Shea, 
August  Mette,  Peter  Sundelius,  John  F,  Dugan,  Gregory  A. 
Klupp. 

1885-6. — Senate,  Bernard  A.  Eckhart,  Charles  H.  Crawford, 
George  A.  Gibbs,  James  Monahan,  Henry  W.  Leman,*  John 
Humphrey  (Orland),  Philip  Knopf,  Michael  F.  Garrity,  Repub- 
licans; Thomas  A.  Cantwell,*"  Democrat;  R.  M.  Burke,  United 
Labor. 

House. — David  W.  Clark,  John  S.  Ford,  Rep.;  James 
O'Connor,  U.  L.;  D.  C.  Chase,  Englewood,  Rep.;  John  W. 
Farley,  Dem  ;  W.  P.  Wright,  Hyde  Park,  U.  L.;  F.  A.  Brokoski, 
George  F.  Ecton,  Rep.;  Thomas  J.  Moran,  Dem.;  Thomas  J. 
MacMillan,f  John  Meyer,  Rep.;  James  F.  Gleason,  Dem.;  Kirk 
N.  Eastman,  Rep.;  Joseph  P.  Mahoney,  Dem.;  Leo  P.  Dwyer, 
U.  L.;  Charles  J.  Neely,  Evanston,  Rep.;  James  H.  Farrel, 
Dem.;  Michael  J.  Dwyer,  U.  L.;  O.  W.  Herrick,  Oak  Park,  S. 
A.  Reynolds,  Jefferson,  Rep.;  Clayton  E.  Crafts, f  Austin,  Dem.; 
Henry  Decker,  Charles  E.  Scharlau,  Rep.;  Charles  G.  Dixon, 
U.  L.;  Bryan  Conway,  Thomas  McElligott,  Dem.;  George 
Rohrbach,  U.  L. ;  F.  E.  Schoenewald,  Rep.;  John  J.  Furlong, 
Dem.;  Victor  Karlowski,  U.  L. 

The  complexion  of  the  present  General  Assembly  is  as 
follows : 


Republicans  in  Senate, 
Republicans  in  House, 


Democrats  in  Senate,  -  -  -  19 

Democrats  in  House,        -  -  -  -         66 


109 
85 


United  Labor  in  Senate,  1 

United  Labor  in  House?         -  -  -  -     8 

Prohibition  in  House,  1 

Republican  majority  over  all,  14. 
The  official  count  of  votes  cast  for  presidential  electors  in 
Chicago  and  Cook  county  in  1884,  was  as  follows  : 

City,    Cleveland,   48,531;    Blaine,   51,422;  Republican   ma- 
jority, 2,891. 

*  Held  over.        f  Re-elected. 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  609 

Cook  county  outside  of  city,  Cleveland,  12,101  ;  Blaine, 
17,829;  Republican  majority,  5,728. 

Grand  total  in  Cook  county,  129,883  ;  for  Cleveland,  60,632  ; 
for  Blaine,  69,251  ;  majority  in  Cook  county  for  Blaine,  8,619. 

Total  registration  in  city  wards,  spring  of  1886,       -     81,641 

Additional  registration,  fall  of  1886,    v      -  -         11,519 

Grand  total  registration  in  city,  -  -  93,160 

[There  was  a  decrease  in  the  registration  of  157  votes  in  the 
First  ward,  and  88  in  the  Ninth,  from  spring  to  fall.] 

FALL   ELECTIONS,   1886. 

The  State  and  Congressional  elections  of  November,  1886, 
produced  many  surprises.  In  Cook  county,  the  United  Labor 
ticket,  which  was  conceded  from  12,000  to  15,000  votes,  polled 
25,000  and  was  the  means  of  defeating  many  Democrats.  Had 
the  ticket  not  been  tainted  with  Socialism  and  the  laboring  men 
had  realized  their  strength,  it  is  now  believed  they  would  have 
polled  35,000  votes  in  Cook  county.  Mayor  Carter  H.  Harrison 
was  tendered  the  unanimous  nomination  for  Congress  by  the 
Third  district  Democratic  convention,  but  declined  on  the  score 
that  his  candidacy  would  not  be  of  any  benefit  to  the  general 
county  ticket.  In  this  district  the  Republican  candidate, 
William  E.  Mason,  polled  13,721  votes,  and  Goodhue,  United 
Labor,  6,352.  In  the  Second  district,  where  Congressman 
Frank  Lawler's  re-election  was  deemed  certain,  the  Socialists 
voted  the  United  Labor  ticket  solidly,  and  Daniel  Gleason, 
their  candidate,  nearly  tied  Lawler.  The  first  returns  gave 
Lawler  sixty  plurality,  and  subsequently,  by  the  official  count, 
this  was  reduced  to  sixteen.  The  vote  in  the  state  at  large  was 
570,500,  a  falling-off  of  seventeen  per  cent,  from  the  presidential 
vote  of  1884.  The  Labor  candidates  polled  34,600  votes  in  the 
state,  and  the  Prohibitionists  19,500,  while  the  Republican  plur- 
ality was  35.000.  Throughout  the  country  the  Republicans  gained 
many  Congressmen,  and  it  is  a  notable  fact  that  the  foremost 
Democratic  champions  of  Free  Trade  were  defeated,  or  elected 
only  by  greatly  reduced  majorities.  John  G.  Carlisle,  Speaker 
of  the  preceding  House,  was  elected  by  but  500  majority  instead 
of  the  usual  5,000  majority  in  the  Louisville  district.  In  Ohio 
Frank  Hurd,  one  of  the  leading  Free  Trade  advocates  in  Congress 
was  defeated  for  re-election.  William  R.  Morrison  was  beaten 
in  Illinois  by  Jehu  Baker,  and  attributed  his  defeat  to  the  efforts 
•of  the  Protectionists,  who  sent  John  Jarrett  into  his  district  to 

39 


6lO  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS, 

solidify  the  Knights  of  Labor  against  him.  Congressman 
Worthington  was  beaten  in  the  Peoria,  Knox,  and  Fulton 
county  district  by  Gen.  Post  by  a  plurality  of  twenty-nine  votes, 
and  a  contest  seemed  probable,  it  being  charged  that  the  votes  of 
students  at  Galesburg  were  illegal.  Congressman  Springer's  usual 
majority  in  the  Springfield  district  was  greatly  reduced  by  James 
A.  Connolly.  Unofficial  returns  show  that  Congress  will  stand 
168  Democrats,  164  Republicans,  and  2  Labor;  barring  contests. 

In  New  York  City,  the  Labor  men  nominated  for  Mayor 
Henry  George,  well  known  for  his  land  reform  and  Free  Trade 
views;  the  Democrats  nominated  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  and  the 
Republicans  Theodore  Roosevelt.  The  vote  was  Hewitt,  90,396; 
George,  67,799;  Roosevelt,  60,492.    Total,  219,261. 

The  vote  for  Congressmen  in  Chicago  districts  was  : 

First  district,  Dunham,  Rep.,  14,008 ;  Terhune,  Dem., 
8,325;  Sheldon,  U.  L.,  7,034;  Christian,  Pro.,  373.  Dunham's 
plurality,  5,682. 

Second  district,  Lawler,  Dem.,  7,369;  Gleason,  U.  L.,  7,353;. 
Woodman,  Rep.,  3,976.      Lee,  Pro.,  t,^.     Lawler's  plurality,  16. 

Third  district,  Mason,  Rep.,  13,721  ;  Goodhue,  U.  L.,  6,352; 
Whitlock,  Pro.,  422.     Mason's  plurality,  7,369. 

Fourth  district,  Adams,  Rep.,  12,147;  Taylor,  Dem.,  7,480;. 
Hawkins,  U.  L.,  4,927;  Gray,  Pro.,  644.     Adams'  plurality,  4,667. 

STATE  AND  COUNTY  TICKET. 

The  official  returns  for  State  Officers  as  canvassed  by  the 
State  Board  and  the  Cook  County  Board  of  Election  Com- 
missioners, respectively,  vary  somewhat  for  Cook  county.  The 
result  that  follows  is  the  Election  Commissioners'  returns — they 
having  been  made  last: 

State  Treasurer.  Tanner,  R.,  city,  30,846,  county,  12,450, 
grand  total,  43,296;  Ricker,  D.,  21,633,  5,254,  26,887;  Budlong, 
U.  L.,  17,902,  7,182,  25,084.  Austin,  Pro.,  629,  867,  1,496. 
Tanner's  plurality,  16,409.     Tanner's  plurality  in  Illinois,  34,705. 

State  Superintendent  Public  Instruction.  Edwards,  R„  42,- 
986;  Oldt,  D.,  26,363;  Braucher,  U.  L.,  24,885;  Gilmer,  Pro.. 
1,276.  Edwards'  plurality,  16,674.  Edwards'  plurality  in  Illi- 
nois, 35,771. 

Coitnty  Treasurer.  Davis,  R.,  city,  27,852;  county,  11,279; 
total,  39,131;  Schweisthal,  D.,  23,700,  6,266,  29,966;  Stauber, 
U.  L  ,  18,158,  7,279,. 25,437;  Bush,  Pro.,  602,  811,  1,413.  Davis' 
plurality,  9,165. 

Sheriff.  Matson,  R.,  city,  30,550,  county,  12,246,  total, 
42,796;  Mattocks,  D.,  20,103,  4,870,  24,973;  Butler,  U.  L.,  17,513, 


CHICAGO,  COOK  COUNTY,  AND  ILLINOIS.  6  I  I 

7,403,  24,986;  Dunphy,  L.  L.,  2,090,  415,  2,508;  Loomis,  Pro., 
514,  j68,  1,282.     Matson's  plurality,  17,823. 

Jitdicial  Ticket.  Superior  Judge. — Hawes,  U.  L.-R.,  city, 
45,717,  county,  18,224,  grand  total,  63,941;  Anthony,  U.  L.-R., 
45>474»  I7>765- 63>239i  Williamson,  R.,  31,087,  12,542,  43,629; 
Tuthill,  R.,  30,425,  11,644,  42,069;  Jamieson,  U.  L.-D.,  39,649, 
12,526,  52,175;  Altgeld,  U.  L.-D.,  39,568,  13,887,  53,405;  Baker, 
D.,  23,751,  6,229,  29,980;  Learning,  D.,  22,507,  6,378,  28,815. 
County  Judge.— Loomis,  R.,  28,700,  11,877,  4°»577i  Prender- 
gast,  U.  L.-D.,  41.353.  i3>o63>  54.416. 

Those  elected  were  on  all  tickets.  Judge  J.  C.  Knicker- 
bocker was  re-elected  Judge  of  the  Probate  Court  without  opposi- 
tion, receiving  70,578  votes  in  the  city,  and  25,607  in  the  county, 
total,  96,185. 

Criminal  Court  Clerk.  Gilbert,  R.,  city,  20,905,  county, 
12,102,  "total,  41,007;  Doyle,  D.,  22,886,  5,529,  28,415;  Dvorak, 
U.  L.,  17,682,  7,067,  24,749;  Tompkins,  Pro.,  562,  800,  1,362; 
White,    L.  L.,  567,   258,  825.     Gilbert's  plurality,  12,592. 

County  Clerk.  Wulff,  R.,  city,  30,000,  county,  12,028,  total, 
42,028;  Mclnerney,  D.,  22,713,  7,032,  29,745;  Rastall,  U.  L., 
17,347,  5,618,  22,665;  Haggart,  Pro.,  568,  784,  1,362.  Wulff's 
plurality,  12,283. 

Probate  Court  Clerk.  Sennott,  R.,city,  31,051,  county, 
12,494,  total,  43,545;  Kleckner,  D.,  22,178,  5,412,  27,590;  Eh- 
mann,  U.  L.,  16,929,  7,044,  23,973.  Warrell,  Pro.,  560,  795,  1,355. 
Sennott's  plurality,  15,955. 

County  Superi?itendent  of  Schools.  Lane,  R.,  city,  31,212, 
county,  14,437,  total,  45,649;  Parker,  D.,  21,072,  6,204,  27,276; 
Bevans,  U.  L.,  17,870,  10,289,  28,159  ;  Wilkie,  Pro.,  550,  636, 
1,186.      Lane's  plurality,  17,490. 

The  constitutional  amendment  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of 
prison  contract  labor  received  in  the  city  67,764  votes,  in  the 
county  21,740,  total  89,504,  out  of  a  total  vote  of  96,185. 

County  Commissioners. — Non-  Official. 

United  Labor.  Bancroft,  17,286;  Eilert,  17,343;  Altpeter, 
18,860;  Barry,  17,753. 

Democrats.  Adams,  21,753;  Niebling,  21,952;  Dowdle, 
22,948;  Sutherland,  22,974. 

Republicans.  Williams,  29,145;  plurality,  6,171;  Schubert, 
29,002;  plurality,  6,054;  Englehardt,  28,786;  plurality,  5,812; 
Nelson,  29,475;  plurality,  6,501. 

Fifth  district.  Aldrich,  Rep.,  2,774;  Hummel,  Dem.,  1,881; 
Dean,  U.  L.,  1,459.     Aldrich's  plurality,  893. 


612  POLITICS    AND    POLITICIANS,  J 

The  towns  of  Jefferson,  Lake  View  and  Hyde  Park  adopted 
the  new  election  law  by  large  majorities. 

Mayor  Harrison's  annual  message  presented  to  the  City 
Council  Monday  evening,  October  4,  1886,  represented  the  city 
to  be  in  a  most  prosperous  financial  condition.  It  showed  that 
the  total  bonded  debt  is  $12,695,500,  and  the  debt,  minus  water 
bonds  and  sinking  funds,  $8,434,034.  The  balance  in  the  Treas- 
ury, January  1,  was  $1,758,121.  The  daily  average  water  sup- 
ply is  91,647,632  gallons  ;  expected  capacity  at  the  end  of  this 
year,  154,000,000  gallons.  The  rectipts  of  the  water  office  for 
the  year  were  $1,421,832,  or  $330,753  more  than  the  expenses. 
The  police  department  cost  $1,079,374  for  the  year,  the  fire  de- 
partment $717,636,  and  the  schools  $2,062,808.  The  buildings 
annually  erected  average  fifteen  miles  in  frontage.  The  death 
rate  of  18.76  per  1,000  is  the  lowest  of  any  large  city.  There 
are  eighteen  patrol  wagons,  twenty  police  stations,  five  police 
courts,  and  1,032  members  of  the  force. 

As  showing  the  marvelous  growth  of  Chicago,  and  the 
city's  importance  and  prosperity  it  may  be  stated  that  from  Jan- 
uary 1,  1882,  to  January  1,  1886 — a  period  of  four  years — over 
16,000  new  buildings  were  erected,  having  a  street  frontage  of 
366,381  feet  or  69  miles,  and  their  cost  was  $91,914,815.  There 
are  300  miles  of  paved  streets;  500 miles  of  sewers;  3.000  miles  of 
water  pipes  ;  1,000  miles  of  sidewalks  ;  1  7,000  street  lamps;  and 
about  100  miles  of  street  car  service  tracks.  There  are  thirty-four 
bridges  over  the  main  river  and  branches,  having  a  total  length, 
with  approaches,  of  over  25,000  feet,  and  a  width  of  1,000  feet, 
over  which  nearly  250  teams  could  drive  abreast,  making  a  line 
1,250  miles  in  length.  More  than  3,500  teams  pass  over  some  of 
the  principal  bridges  daily.  The  Rush  street  bridge  is  the  largest 
iron  swing  bridge  known,  being  240  feet  in  length  and  59  feet  wide, 
and  weighing  657  tons.  There  are  twenty-five  viaducts  of  equal 
width  with  the  bridges,  and  more  than  35,000  feet  in  length, 
some  of  which  cost  over  half  a  million  dollars  apiece.  Nearly 
one-fourth  of  all  the  steam  railway  mileage  in  the  United  States 
is  in  lines  having  termini  in  Chicago,  the  twenty  roads  centering 
here  having  a  total  mileage  of  28,817  miles.  Chicago  is  the 
great  grain  center  of  the  world.  There  are  twenty-seven  public 
elevator  warehouses  located  here,  one  of  them  having  a  capacity 
for  1,800,000  bushels  of  grain,  and  fifteen  a  capacity  for  more 
than  a  million  bushels  each,  or  a  total  capacity  for  27,000,000 
bushels.  At  the  close  of  1886  Chicago  and  suburbs  in  Cook 
county  will  have  a  population  of  1,000,000  inhabitants. 


